Madalina Vasile (NNDKP) takes the stage at Environmental & Sustainability Summit 2023

Madalina Vasile, Managing Associate at NNDKP, will be a speaker in Panel 3 of Day 2 at the Environmental & Sustainability Summit 2023. The event, hosted at The Marmorosch Bucharest, Autograph Collection, will take place on October 4-5 and will approach crucial topics such as sustainable food and water consumption, eco-communities, renewable energy sources, and circular economy.

Madalina Vasile is an experienced lawyer with 6 years of experience,  specializing in data protection and environmental matters. During the event, she will focus on Circular Economy, exploring how this model of production and consumption is shaping the future by extending the life cycle of products and reducing waste.

In anticipation to BR’s #ESS 2023, Madalina Vasile sat down with Business Review to discuss the environmental legislation and its impact on sustainability goals and growth.

What new or forthcoming environmental legislation in the field of waste management will contribute to sustainable goals and growth?

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The Environmental & Sustainability Summit 2023: Challenges and opportunities for a better future

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The environmental regulatory framework is already very dense and will become even denser as the EU continues to make environmental regulation a priority.

At EU level, we already have several major legislative initiatives, brought together under the Fit for 55 umbrella and in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal. Others will follow.

The initiatives cover a wide range of areas, from climate, waste management and energy to transport, industry, agriculture, and sustainable finance, all of which are closely interlinked.

To give some examples:

1. The EU Regulation 2023/1542 on batteries and waste batteries has recently been adopted, with the overall aim of creating a circular economy and strengthening the sustainability rules for the sector. It covers all stages of the battery life cycle, from design to waste management. It sets targets for waste collection, an extended producer responsibility scheme, mandatory recycled content levels for certain industrial batteries, and the list goes on. The Regulation will generally apply from 18 February 2024, with certain requirements applying later.
2. Another EU legislative initiative that is expected to have a significant impact on businesses is the proposal for a regulation on packaging and packaging waste (currently in the legislative procedure). Its specific objectives are to reduce the generation of packaging waste, to promote a circular economy for packaging and to encourage the use of recycled content in packaging. There are many new and quite ambitious (to say the least) requirements, including that packaging must be designed to minimize weight and volume, to be reused a certain number of times, and to be fully recyclable. Under the proposal, the plastic parts of the packaging must contain a certain percentage of recycled content from post-consumer plastic waste per unit of packaging.
3. The textile sector is also in the spotlight due to the recent EU proposal for a targeted revision of the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC. Among other things, the proposal introduces requirements for producers to cover the costs of managing textile waste. This will incentivize textile producers to reduce waste and increase the circularity of their textile products. Food waste issues are also addressed in the same proposal.

Local legislative initiatives add to the complexity of the task companies face in trying to identify, understand and mitigate potential impacts on their business.

For example, there is a recent local proposal on the management of construction and demolition waste. The provisions of this law would apply to waste from construction and/or demolition activities carried out in respect of buildings of any category and related installations, as well as supporting constructions of technological and production installations or interior fittings. It remains to be seen whether this law addresses properly the business concerns in the sector, including concerns about cost increases in case of using recycled materials for the construction.

Join Madalina Vasile and a roster of key industry players at the Environmental & Sustainability Summit 2023. Join us at The Marmorosch Bucharest, Autograph Collection, on October 4-5, and take an inside look at what the top speaking guests have to say about creating a new normality through sustainable means.