Law no. 249/2015 on the
management of packaging and packaging waste represents the new rules regarding
waste management. Thus, this law imposes certain requirements regarding the
essential nature of unusable or exploitable packaging, manufacture and the composition
thereof, equally imposing responsibilities and objectives regarding the
collection of waste, as well as setting the penalties for non-compliance with
this law.
This being said, his law
clarifies the meaning of terms, regulating that, "packaging" is
represent by any object, regardless of the material from which it is made or
the nature thereof, for retention, protection, handling, distribution and
presentation of products, from raw materials to processed products, from the
producer to the user or consumer. More, even, the non-refundable object which
is intended for the same purpose is also considered packaging.
Regarding the requirements
introduced in the annexes of this law, the essential requirements relating to
the manufacture and composition of packaging are:
▪ packaging shall be manufactured
so that its volume and weight be limited to the minimum necessary to ensure the
required level of safety, hygiene and acceptance for both the packaged product
and the consumer;
▪ packaging shall be designed,
manufactured and marketed in a way to allow reuse or recovery, including
recycling, and to minimize the negative environmental impacts;
▪ packaging shall be manufactured
aiming at minimizing the content of substances and toxic materials and other
hazardous substances in the packaging material and its components, substances
which may be present in emissions, ash or leachate resulting from the elimination
processes of the packaging waste.
The essential requirements
specific to the reusable nature of packaging are well defined, namely:
▪ the physical properties and
characteristics of the packaging must allow multiple rotations in normal
conditions of intended use;
▪ reused packaging must be
prepared, as appropriate, to meet the requirements of health and safety;
▪ the packaging that can not be
reused must become capitalized packaging
waste.
What’s more, the essential
requirements of capitalized packaging establish that:
▪ packaging must be manufactured
so as to allow, when it becomes packaging waste, that a percentage of the
weight of materials to be recycled. Setting this percentage may differ
depending on the type of material used in the manufacture of packaging;
▪ packaging must be manufactured
so as to allow, when it becomes packaging waste, that the packaging waste
processed for energy recovery to have a minimum calorific value that allows the
optimization of energy recovery;
▪ packaging must be manufactured
so as to allow, when it becomes packaging waste, that the packaging waste
treated and composted be sufficiently biodegradable;
▪ biodegradable packaging must be
manufactured so as to allow, when discarding packaging, a decomposition of
physical, chemical, thermal or biological, so most of the material to be
converted into carbon dioxide, biomass and water.
Furthermore, these conditions
should be considered fulfilled only in case packages are compliant with both
the Romanian standards and / or national standards of other Member States of the
European Union, which adopt harmonized standards, and by Romanian standards for
areas in which European harmonized standards are not adopted.
Regarding the obligations of
economic operators, they need to market only packaging of which the sum
concentration levels of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium present
in packaging or its components does not exceed 100 parts / million by weight,
but they also need to use a system of labeling and identification of the
packaging in order to improve packaging recovery and recycling of packaging
waste and to apply the system of marking and identification required by law.
Also, economic operators that produce
reusable packaging own the obligation to comply with the essential requirements
regarding reusability of packaging during its manufacturing, so as to allow
multiple reuse.
Operators producing or selling
products packaged in reusable packaging are obliged to apply the deposit system
to ensure an optimum number of cycles of use, while those that manufacture
goods packed in reusable packaging shall organize a collection system, with the
purpose of multiple packaging for reuse, by operators selling these products or
specialized centers for collection of these types of packaging.
Regarding annual targets on
recovery or recycling of packaging waste, to be achieved at national level, the
legal framework in this matter establishes that these are:
a) recovery or incineration, in
waste incineration plants with energy recovery, of at least 60% of the weight
of packaging waste;
b) recycling of minimum 55% of
the total weight of packaging materials contained in packaging waste, with achieving
minimum recycling values for each type of material contained in packaging
waste.
The value of these objectives for
the recycling of each type of material found in packaging waste are as follows:
a) 60% of the weight for the
glass;
b) 60% of the weight for paper /
cardboard;
c) 50% of the weight for the
metal;
d) 15% of the weight for wood;
e) 22.5% of the weight for
plastics, considering only the material that is recycled as plastic.
The penalties for breaching the
provisions of this law are represented by fines whose amount varies from 400
lei to 25,000 lei, depending on the seriousness of the offense.
The new law in the matter of the management of packaging and packaging
waste contains strict and complex legislative provisions enabling effective
management of waste in Romania, in line with European standards and the
national ones. If you want to get more information on your obligations in this
area as an economic operator, you can contact one of the lawyers within Darie,
Manea & associates who will provide legal assistance and representation
before the competent authorities when appropriate.
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