Circularity in Action, the road Romania must take to become sustainable

The circular economy gathered representatives of local and public administrations and those of the private sector at a unique event. At the event organized by FEPRA and PIVOT-C, the “Circularity in Action” report was also launched, which includes the most important measures to be taken in the coming years for Romania’s economy to become sustainable and, above all, clean, with as few as possible generated waste and as much recycled and reused materials as possible.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment division of the World Bank, is the institution that initiated the realization of the “Circularity in Action” project and report, with the support of the Romanian Government, but also of private sector companies. In the opening speech, Hester Marie DeCasper, Regional Head of Operations Europe at IFC, showed that the transformation of the linear economy into a circular one is very important today, given that many studies have shown that about 90% of the biodiversity we are losing annually is caused by mining for resources and raw materials, which could also be found in recycling. “IFC has gained experience in the circular economy in the programs with the private sector that it has had in many regions of the world. A year ago, we started to collaborate with the Government of Romania in creating the strategy for the circular economy and we are ready to work with the Government and the private sector in Romania on circular economy pilot projects“, said Hester Marie DeCasper.

Anna Akhalkatsi, Country Manager for Romania, World Bank, appreciated the importance that the private sector represents in the circular economy, and it is decisive to bring the private and public sectors together for collaboration. “I think the first message I want to convey is that the circular economy is a cross-cutting effort between private and public. We, at the World Bank, see that the role of the public sector is to create the legislative framework for the functioning of the private sector in the circular economy. Romania has advanced a lot by creating the strategy and the action plan and many of the established directions are important for the circular economy“, said Anna Akhalkatsi, who added that the World Bank and the IFC will provide both technical support and financing for the implementation of the project’s circular economy.

Mihaela Frăsineanu, State Counsellor, Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Government of Romania, stated that we have been talking about the circular economy since 2013, but only now have we managed to make a medium-term and long-term strategy for the implementation of the circular economy. “We also have an Action Plan that tells us what we have to do in the next period. It is important to understand that we need to change our mindset and consider ourselves a poor country with no resources, so that we are forced to reuse the resources we have, not to look for new ones,” said Mihaela Frasineanu, who added that we now also have the necessary financing from the IFC and the World Bank for the implementation of the projects.

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Laszlo Borbely, State Counselor / Coordinator of the Department for Sustainable Development, Government of Romania, referred to the 17 sustainable development objectives that we must keep in mind to achieve the goal of “good life” towards which we aim. “In 2017, we had a vision, which we are now revising. And we have an analysis that shows us what we did and what we didn’t do. We may not be able to make a national center of circular economy, but we will have, in 2025, a center of sustainable development, which will allow effective collaboration between the private and public sectors“, said Laszlo Borbely, who added that we have already 150 ministry-level circular economy experts who are the core of development, and we will have 2,000 experts in a few years. “There will not be new people, there will be those already employed in public and local administration, people who will specialize in sustainable development.”

Luminița Bălălău, Director, Department for Sustainable Development, Government of Romania, presented the circular economy strategy and the Action Plan. The strategy is to fulfill the 17 objectives by 2030, and it is Romania’s commitment to align itself with the circular economy at the level of the European Union. After the approval of the Action Plan at the end of last year, the Coordination Committee for the Circular Economy in Romania (CCCER) was established, as well as its operating regulations. The challenges in developing the Strategy were the low productivity of the resources used, the low rate of use of recycling materials, the high share of food waste, the improper management of construction waste, the significant amount of textile products ending up in landfills, the low share of separate collection of electrical and electronic equipment, the low recycling rate of municipal waste and, last but not least, the low level of involvement of citizens in circular economy activities. “Starting from these challenges, we created the Strategy so that we can create a circular economy“, declared Luminița Bălălău.

Seven priority sectors have been established, complemented by two transversal sectors. The sectors are agriculture and forestry, automotive, construction, food and beverage, packaging, electrical and electronic equipment, textiles, waste, and water and wastewater. The plan has a total of 52 actions applicable in the short, medium, and long term, of which 30 should be applied in the short term, 15 in the medium term and 5 in the long term. “Our focus is now on the actions that have a term of 2026-2027“, Luminița Bălălău pointed out. There is also a monitoring and evaluation plan for the 52 actions. In the medium and long term, the Plan aims to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 39% and create 70 new jobs for every 1,000 tonnes of recycled waste. The potential increase in GDP as a result of the actions is 0.5 percentage points annually, and the consumption of virgin materials should decrease by 28%.

Ionuț Georgescu CEO, FEPRA Group, showed that efficiency is many times more important than sustainability when we talk about the circular economy. “We need strategic resource management. Currently, many companies have problems with deliveries from Asia and other areas via sea routes, therefore resource management is essential,” said Ionuț Georgescu, who added that Romania ranks last in terms of circularity in Europe. But we have the potential and opportunity to increase our share of the circular economy. “We are happy to have been able to participate in this plan to move into action and I would be happy to see more and more companies participating in circular pilot projects and making an effort for better collaboration with the public sector,” says Ionut Georgescu.

“For me, the discussion today is a dream come true“, said Cristian Nacu, Senior Country Officer Romania atIFC, at the end of the event. “A year ago, when we started this project, IFC wanted to be the facilitator of discussions between the Government and the private sector, and at today’s event, that’s exactly what happened. We had a  dense discussion full of good ideas; there was talk of changing a life model, and I think that if we want to leave something behind for the generations to come, then we all must assume this desideratum of the disappearance of waste, we have to use it fully“, said Cristian Nacu.

The Circular Economy Strategy and the Action Plan are two elements that can help us transform the way we operate every day and that can lead us to a sustainable zone where we no longer see waste or plastic bottles in rivers and forests. As Cristian Nacu pointed out, “it is a project of a lifetime“, that is, it is decisive for what will happen in the future with the population of Romania and the whole of humanity. Climate change and the disappearance of biodiversity are no longer things “happening elsewhere”, but facts that we see and feel every day, including in cities and metropolises. They can no longer be ignored but must be treated with attention by each of us.

The ”Circularity in Action” report can be viewed and downloaded here.

Part 1 of the event can be viewed here:

Part 2 of the event can be viewed here: