The Minister of the Environment Mircea Fechet claims that there are between 5,000 and 6,000 Romanians who “put bread on the table” thanks to the guarantee-return system, and those who look for PETs in the trash cans should not be fined by the Local Police.
He gave the example of a citizen who was fined.
“There would be between 5,000 and 6,000 Romanians who today put a bread on the table thanks to the guarantee-return system. Look for bottles around the city, through street bins. Bottles that would normally have ended up in landfill. Yesterday, a citizen sent me a photo with a report because he was fined by the Local Police for removing a PET from a bin”, said Mircea Fechet on Prima TV.
The Minister of the Environment was asked what was the concrete reason why the respective citizen was fined.
“It is not very clear to me, but I think it is a mistake and I take the opportunity to express my opinion publicly. I think it is wrong to fine a person who takes the PET from a trash can, because that PET would have ended up in the landfill. In the situation where he puts it in an RVM, in an automatic machine, in addition to the fact that he earns 50 money, we make sure that that PET ends up in a recycling plant. The largest PET processor in Romania and South-Eastern Europe told me that for the first time in the history of the company, and they were established immediately after the Revolution, they gave up importing PET from other countries, for me it’s news extraordinary”, concluded Mircea Fechet.
Fechet claims that, in the first nine months of the national guarantee-return campaign (SGR), 800 million packages were collected: PETs, bottles and aluminum cans. By the end of the year, 3.2 billion packaging will be collected, representing 65% of the total sold, and in 2025 the recovery percentage will reach 90%. On the other hand, the minister admits that, in rural areas, some shops do not return the guarantee of 50 money. “There are some stores that today refuse to pay the citizen’s guarantee, even if he charged the guarantee when the man bought water, beer or juice”, said Mircea Fechet on Prima TV.
Source: www.cotidianul.ro
