Romania collects more plastic than Germany, France or Hungary, according to data released by Eurostat. The average recycling of plastic packaging waste in Romania is 43% whereas the EU average is 41%.

A new law on recyclable packaging that will go into effect next fall, will not dramatically improve the plastic collection rate as it deals with only one-quarter of the plastic thrown into the garbage, Alin Vişan, president of the Romanian Association for Packaging and Environment (ARAM) told Adevărul.

Vişan: “We look forward to opening a fair dialogue with the industry on this issue. The term ‘plastic tax’ is still circulating, but it does not exist in European legislation … It is not correct, from my point of view, to follow this subject only as a simple tax to be paid by the producers”.