The story of an example: Reciclad’OR

Green Deal, circular economy, green energy, regeneration are words that for most Romanians belong to ​​the abstract area. When it comes to waste collection and capitalisation, the examples that come to mind are rather related to the communist period, when students, like “heroes” were collecting paper, jars and bottles that they carried to school.

As far as I can remember, the goal was more educational than economic. But time flies and we are in the third millennium, when the planet can no longer support all the whims of the human race and recycling acquires different values, and not just ecological. In this increasingly difficult context, new needs and new “heroes” have emerged.
Some of these heroes are the OIREPs. These organisations take on the extended responsibility of manufacturers to recycle the packaging they place on the market.
And again we enter the abstract area for most Romanians.
To clarify once and for all, we will use an example: Reciclad’OR the leader of organisations that take over, by contract, the recycling obligations of producers and importers of packaged products.

What are OIREPs and what is their role?

We wrote above that the planet no longer supports all our whims, environmental pollution has become an issue that directly affects everyone’s life. The paradigm has changed and everything starts from the following observation: the waste we generate is biodegradable to a very small extent. If we look in our own trash, about 25% of what we generate as waste is packaging waste. The vast majority of them are not biodegradable.
If we extend the image to the scale of a national economy, we have exactly the proportions of the impact.

Packaging waste is not garbage but an extremely valuable resource.
To understand the process of transforming packaging waste into a valuable resource, we should approach packaging waste generators to know how to manage the issue. Here, too, the OIREPs intervene, the organisations that implement the obligations regarding the extended liability of the producer.
They take over by contract the obligation of producers and importers of packaged products to recover and recycle this valuable resource. Clearly, OIREP is the link between the obligation to recycle packaged product producers and the activity of packaging waste collectors. And this is not at all simple.
If the producers or importers of packaged products are easy to identify, this is not the case with packaging waste collectors, which must be carefully selected annually in order for things to be completed, as required by law.
Please note that according to the national legislation in force, manufacturers are obliged to recycle 60% of the packaging they place on the national market.
But by 2030, the recycling obligation will increase to 70%, and OIREPs must make this possible.
It should be noted that, annually, OIREPs are subject to several controls in order to certify the way in which they have fulfilled their legal obligations.
Example: Reciclad’OR

Currently, there are 13 OIREPs in Romania. Reciclad’OR is one of these OIREPs and another exemplary one. With a shareholding consisting of several private companies, Reciclad’OR has an exceptional reputation on the national and international market.
Reciclad’OR performance:
Since its establishment in 2017, and until now, Reciclad’OR has successfully fulfilled all the legal obligations it has assumed in the contractual relationship with the producers and importers of packaged products.
This performance was also certified every year by the tax audits carried out by the state authorities, which certified the veracity of the way in which the recycling targets were met.
What were the factors behind the success of Reciclad’OR?
First of all, the representatives of Reciclad’OR claim, the relationship that the company has developed with the collectors and recyclers of packaging waste. From the very beginning, through the tough selection criteria of collectors and recyclers, he managed to work with the best of them.
Selection criteria, waste traceability procedures and business ethics policy have cumulatively contributed to the successful fulfilment of recycling obligations and to the growing reputation of the organisation among collectors and recyclers.
As far as we could tell, Reciclad’OR took over the responsibility of recycling packaging from over 700 companies in Romania. Which means that it has taken over the responsibility of recycling over 300,000 tons of packaging placed on the national market. The quality of the services offered and the consistent fulfillment of the recycling objectives have today led the organisation to the position of undisputed leader of the responsibility transfer market in Romania.