Amendments to the law on packaging waste management

In short

Government Ordinance no. 1/2021 amends and supplements Law no. 249/2015 on the management of packaging and packaging waste (the Ordinance). The Law is designed to prevent the generation of packaging waste.

In detail

The purpose of the Ordinance is to align the national legislation with European objectives by reducing the final disposal of packaging waste in order to contribute to the transition to a circular economy.

The main changes brought by the new legislative provisions:

• Increased packaging waste recycling targets have been set for 1 January 2030.
• The minimum targets for recycling and recovery rates of packaging waste (increased by 5%) by 1 January 2025 and 1 January 2030 have been clarified.
• The National Agency for Environmental Protection (ANPM) has the option of requesting that the European Commission postpone, by a maximum of five years, the deadlines set for meeting the minimum recycling targets by type of material (paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, metal and wood) in compliance with certain conditions and without prejudice to the overall minimum recycling target provided by law for 2025 and 2030.
• The weight of recycled packaging waste is determined when the waste enters the recycling operation. By way of exception, the weight of recycled packaging waste may also be measured based on the material resulting from sorting operations, subject to certain conditions expressly and exhaustively fulfilled (e.g. the weight of non-recycled materials removed in subsequent operations is not included in the reported amount).
• Biodegradable packaging waste is considered recycled when it generates compost, digestate or other materials in an amount similar to that of the original materials. The waste is also considered to have been recycled if the post-treatment materials are used as fertilizer, thus benefiting agriculture or leading to ecological improvement.
• Materials that have ceased to be waste and are to be used as fuel or any other way of generating energy do not count towards achieving annual recycling / recovery targets.
• The ANPM is responsible for implementing, by 1 January 2024, a packaging waste quality control and traceability system, to be managed by the Environmental Fund Administration (AFM), to ensure that the recycling and recovery conditions are being fulfilled. The deadline for implementation is 1 January 2024.
• An adjusted level of recycling targets is allowable for a given year, as of 2025, based on the previous three-year average for reusable packaging introduced on the national market for the first time and reused as part of a packaging reuse system.
• Information on toxic or dangerous packaging materials and components used for their manufacture must be reported by the economic operators to the ANPM.
• The AFM is to manage a packaging and packaging waste database listing the materials used by economic operators.

[Source: Government Ordinance no. 1/2021 for amending and supplementing Law no. 249/2015 on the management of packaging and packaging waste, published in the Official Gazette no. 785 dated 16 August 2021]

The takeaway

Government Ordinance no. 1/2021 amends and completes Law no. 249/2015 on the management of packaging and packaging waste by transposing into the national legislation the provisions of European directives and decisions in the field in order to ensure the transition to the circular economy.

The legislation introduces new rules on the calculation of recycling targets, which are based on the weight of packaging waste that enters recycling operations (with certain derogations). The Ordinance also provides for the amendment of the essential requirements to stimulate the prevention of the packaging waste generation, reduce its impact on the environment and promote the recycling of packaging materials.