Romanian environment minister announces X-ray truck checks at border to detect illegal waste imports

Environment minister Diana Buzoianu announced on Monday, December 22, that the National Environmental Guard (GNM) will begin using an X-ray scanner to detect trucks entering Romania with illegal waste, as part of efforts to curb cross-border environmental crime.

In a statement published on Facebook, minister Buzoianu said the mobile scanning system, purchased for around EUR 2 million through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), will allow inspectors to stop and quickly scan suspect trucks at border areas.

The equipment has already been tested and is expected to become operational this week.

“In short: we are bringing the 21st century into the Environmental Guard’s control activity. Today, the Environmental Guard has the tools, the legislation, and increased inspection staff, enabling it to stop illegal waste entering the country at the border more effectively, to prevent its abandonment or incineration,” Diana Buzoianu said.

She also noted that in the past month alone, the Environmental Guard carried out 750 inspections using modern equipment acquired through the PNRR.

Diana Buzoianu also said the necessary legal norms were adopted shortly after she took office to allow the new tools to be used, expressing hope that advanced inspection methods would become standard practice.

(Photo source: Facebook/Diana Buzoianu)