Romania is
\nstruggling with the logistics of managing illegal imports of waste, considering
\nthat hundreds of illegal transports enter Romania on a daily basis, the
\nEnvironmental Guard warns. Last year, the Guard carried out 3,000 inspections
\nin border checkpoints, which resulted in 41 criminal investigations. Meanwhile,
\nlarge quantities of waste imported illegally reach landfills across the
\ncountry, where the storage tax is much lower compared to Western Europe. One
\nsolution would be to increase the tax to similar levels elsewhere in Europe, as
\nwell as to increase the number of inspections and the level of fines. In the first
\nfour months of 2022, over 1,000 transports of waste were inspected, part of
\nwhich were banned from entering the country, while in the case of others the
\ncompanies in question were handed fines or were subjected to criminal
\ninvestigations. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The most frequent issues in this sector have to do with
\nmisfiling data in official transport documents or irregularities between
\nofficial statements and the actual cargo. On the other hand, the Guard has for
\nthe first time lodged a criminal complaint for illegal waste burial. The
\nEnvironment Ministry announced that, at the end of an inspection carried out at
\nthe waste sorting station in District 3 in the capital city, which is
\nsubordinated to the municipal waste collection company, Environmental Guard
\ninspectors identified an area of approximately 4,000 square meters that
\npresented clear evidence of burial of construction waste, as well as plastic,
\nceramics and wood waste. The enterprise received a 6,000-Euro fine for functioning
\nwithout a green permit. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We recall Parliament has voted a new law in an attempt
\nto stop illegal waste burning or burial. Already submitted to the president for
\nratification, the law stipulates harsh sanctions for enterprises and
\nindividuals, including prison sentences of up to 5 years. The initiators of the
\ndraft law recall that stopping or at least curbing illegal waste burning is of
\nkey importance to the health of the population. According to a European study,
\nthe plastic in home appliances becomes 4,000 times more toxic than wood when
\nburned. Unfortunately, the burning of materials to obtain various metals that
\nare sold on the market is a widespread phenomenon in Romania, impacting both
\nthe environment and public health. From 2019 to date, over 870 tons of waste
\nhave been burned, part of which were composite materials used to obtain metals.
\nAt national level, over 29,000 people die to pollution-related preventable
\nillnesses. (VP)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Environmental Guard has lodged a complaint against an enterprise accused of burying waste<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":74988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[40551,40552,40549,40550,40548],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-92282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-environmental-guard","tag-inspections","tag-waste-burial","tag-waste-burning","tag-waste-collection"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n