Deposit return scheme to help improve collection rates in Romania

Romania will launch its deposit return system in October 2022 in accordance with Government Decision 1074/2021 and to align with the targets of the European Union’s Single-Use Plastics Directive.

The Single-Use Plastics Directive requires member states to separately collect 77 per cent of single-use plastic bottles with caps and lids by 2025, with an ultimate target of 90 per cent by 2029.   

In October 2021, the Romanian government approved a decision regulating the deposit return system for single-use primary packaging, according to which consumers will pay a 0.50 RON deposit when they buy beverages from retailers. Consumers will receive their deposit back when they bring the empty beverage containers to one of the return points for recycling. Romania’s deposit return system will cover single-use beverage packaging in glass, plastic or metal, with volumes between 0.1 and 3 litres.Producers, importers, distributors and retailers are preparing for the changes to their operations, and TOMRA, the global provider of reverse vending technology for deposit return systems, is ready to help Romanian retailers and other stakeholders as they prepare for the upcoming deposit system.

TOMRA opened an office in Romania in 2021 and already has a national service network ready to support stakeholders who will operate the return points.

Dorin Mihai, General Manager of TOMRA Romania, said: "In Romania, we have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change the direction and to learn from what has already been successfully tested and implemented in other countries. Retailers, manufacturers and local public authorities can make the deposit return system a success story by adopting proven practices and best-in-class technology." 

The first TOMRA reverse vending machines were installed in Romania in 2012 to support a voluntary project and since then have collected more than 571 million plastic bottles, 63 million aluminium cans and 34 million glass bottles. 

The European average collection rate for plastic beverage bottles in countries without a deposit system is 47 per cent, compared to this with them collecting 94 per cent of eligible plastic beverage bottles. 

TOMRA has reverse vending installations in more than 40 deposit markets across the globe, with approximately 80,000 reverse vending machines capturing over 40 billion used beverage containers worldwide per year.