Moldovan fruits, vegetables producers obliged to comply with system of managing waste from packaging

Chisinau, 24 August /MOLDPRES/ - The economic agents of Moldova, including the ones from the horticultural and apiarian sectors, till the end of this year will have to register in the Waste Management Automated Information System (SIAMD). They will also have to ensure the process of collection, carriage, depositing and turning to account (including through recycling) of waste from packaging coming from products placed on market.

Although the new legal provisions have been in force since 1 January 2023, only six per cent out of over 2,500 producers which place packed products on market registered on the SIAMD platform and chose individual or collective systems of waste management from packaging. At the same time, some economic agents say there is not enough information to take a decision to this effect, while the others recognize that they are not sure whether the mechanism of Producer’s Extended Responsibility (REP) refers to the small and micro producers.     

To explain the duties of the producers of packaging, established by the new legislative framework, as well as the contraventional responsibility for the non-declaring of the quantities of waste from packaging for the 2023 year, over 20 processors, traders and distributors of fruits and vegetables have been recently trained on how to manage the waste from packaging and to implement the REP mechanism, within a training organized by the  Rural Competitiveness and Resilience Activity Project, financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).    

„A fruit distributor with a circulation of 120 tons of apples in Chisinau alone generates 12 tons of waste from cardboard boxes and casseroles during one year. In the same year, a company producing natural honey, which puts 40,000 jars on shelves, generates about 23 tons of waste of glass packaging and another half a ton of metal decks, which are thrown in dumping carts. Yet, a quite small of part of this waste gets to be used through recycling and most of it is buried in waste pits from Moldova. The REP mechanism will change this, being an efficient instrument, in order to enforce the principle, Polluter Pays and promote the Circular Economy,’’ an expert in circular economy and waste management, Aurelia Bahnaru, said.    

Entrepreneurs are obliged to align with the requirements of management of waste from packaging, according to the new legal provisions through ensuring their collection, transportation and turning to account by recycling. If these goals are not fulfilled, economic agents will pay the tax for environmental pollution for each ton of waste of packaging placed on market.   

According to the National Statistics Bureau, over 90 per cent out of the 3 million cubic metres of waste generated in Moldova are deposited in waste pits, mostly unauthorized ones. According to a recent survey, only three per cent of the plastic produced and imported in Moldova is collected and recycled.   

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