The Foreign Investors Council (FIC), organization that brings together the largest Romanian companies with foreign capital, attaches great importance to environmental protection and related regulations, being an important player in the dialogue between the private sector and the authorities, decision-makers.

One of the priority topics of FIC over the past decade has been and remains waste management, where Romania continues to rank last in the European Union in terms of waste collection, recycling, and recovery. FIC members regularly review the entire waste management system in order to identify the main blockages and propose solutions and recommendations that are aligned with European practices and to support the authorities in setting a clear and balanced legal framework.

Given the complexity of the topic of waste management, this year, between May and July, FIC started a broad consultation process with various sectoral associations and institutions: the Association for Packaging and the Environment in Romania (ARAM), Brewers of Romania Association, the National Association of Refreshing Drinks (ANBR), the Association of Large Commercial Networks in Romania (AMRCR); the Federation of Intercommunity Development Associations (FADI); OIREP Packaging Association; Ecotic, Environ, National Battery Recycling System (SNRB), ARCwaste, Reverse Logistics Group (RLG) Romania; RER Group; Circular Economy Coalition (CERC), ECOTECA, Green PC Ambalaje, Romcarbon; the National Union of Road Hauliers from Romania (UNTRR), the Patronage of Employers from Cement Industry and other Mineral Products for Constructions from Romania (CIROM), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, the European Investment Bank (EIB). Following these consultations, the FIC Task Force on Environment has drafted a position paper on the main challenges and blockages faced by actors in the field, as well as a series of recommendations and proposals on how these challenges could be overcome.

On November 8, FIC organized an event dedicated to the analysis of the waste management field with the support of the Minister of Environment, Water and Forests, Mr. Barna Tanczos. The event was attended by the Minister and representatives of the Parliament, the Ministry of Investments and European Projects, the Environment Fund Administration, the National Environmental Guard, the National Environmental Protection Agency, the National Regulatory Authority for Public Utilities Community Services, the Department for Sustainable Development of the Government of Romania. At the same time, together with the FIC experts on environmental protection participated in the event also the representatives of the organizations that took part in the consultation process. The main topics addressed were the objectives of waste management, individual responsibility, transparency and traceability of the system, recognition of waste to recycling and end-of-waste status, infrastructure development, and unification of reporting systems.

The FIC highlighted once again the need to ensure a clear, coherent, predictable, and balanced waste management framework to enable all actors to take the necessary action to comply with the legal requirements in this area. We believe that only in this way can we ensure that the paradigm in the field of waste management is changed, and the targets imposed at the European level are met. The discussion with the authorities on 8 November was a first step in this respect.

The commitment made by the FIC during the event is to continue the thematic discussions with the institutions in the field and represents the continuation of the objective agreed together with the representatives of the Government and Parliament under the umbrella of the Va Urma project (www.vaurma.ro): Improving waste management system (collection, recovery, recycling), following the extended consultation with all parties.