Eco-Rom Ambalaje Magazine No.11, February - April 2014 | Page 3
ecovoice
Battle over
title starts all over again!
Eco-Rom Ambalaje has launched the second edition of the
“Town of Recycling” competition between municipalities all over the
countries. ﬔe “battle” of recycling takes place January 1 - June 30, 2014,
and all towns that signed up will fight on several “battlefields”: for quality of
packaging waste sorting services, for the best mechanisms to raise awareness and rally people behind separate collection of waste and also for the
largest quantity of packaging waste collected separately.
Local authorities play
an essential part in the
separate collection of
packaging waste generated by the population,
in the context of urban
generated waste management. Current legal requirements in the niche consist
of an annual 15% drop in
stored waste volumes,
which can become the very
quantity of waste to be recycled, and can help reach a recycling rate of 50% for municipal
waste by 2020.
AUTHORITIES FOCUS MORE ON
SEPARATE COLLECTION.
ﬔe experience of this “Town of Recycling” competition once again showed
that the involvement of the organization
responsible for recycling in a result-based
partnership with local authorities and sanitation operators can actually lead to an
improvement in the packaging waste separate collection service. Aer last year’s
six-month competition, local authorities
have started paying more attention to performance indicators promoted by
Eco-Rom Ambalaje (people’s access to colored collection containers and the look of
these containers) and are not ensuring an
active communication with local residents, urging them to correctly sort their
waste. And all these efforts are ultimately
reflected by a positive assessment of the
service in the field and by the growing
quantity of waste that has been collected
separately and shipped to be recycled.
TWICE AS MANY PARTICIPANTS IN THE
SECOND EDITION THAN LAST YEAR.
ﬔe second edition of this competition essentially relies on the knowledge gathered
during the first stage of the project: local
authorities now have a pro-active attitude
to their involvement in the “battle” of recycling, which shows a good understanding of all aspects related to
communicating the importance of separate collection to the citizens, as well as
the operational aspects related to the
waste sorting system management. ﬔis
understanding was confirmed by the fact
32 townships signed up for the competition this year – a 60% increase from
last year’s figures.
ﬔe townships that heeded this year’s call
to battle are: Arad, Bacău, Brașov,
Bucharest – Districts 3 and 6, ClujNapoca, Craiova, Deva, Drobeta-Turnu
Severin, Focșani, Iași, Mediaș, Roman,
Satu Mare, Sfântu Gheorghe, Slobozia,
Târgu Jiu, Tulcea, Zalău, Bârlad, Brăila,
Călărași, Constanța, Galați, Miercurea
Ciuc, Odorheiu Secuiesc, Oradea, Ploiești,
Slatina, Suceava, Târgu Secuiesc, Vaslui.
ﬔe 32 towns and cities in the competition have over 4 million people of the 9
million total who have access to the separate collection system courtesy of
Eco-Rom Ambalaje. ﬔe first pilot projects
for packaging waste separate collection
initiated in partnership with local authorities and appointed sanitation operators
were launched in 2005. In the meantime,
the organization has developed a partnership model that led to the development of
specific public services in over 450 townships. Investments in the separate collec-
tion infrastructure made available to the
people (colored containers and bags for
each type of material: paper, glass, plastic and metal) amounted to 22 million lei
at the end of 2012.
ﬔe “Town of Recycling” project this year
is being held under the tutelage of the
Ministry of Environment and Climate
Change, which supports our initiative nationwide.
Moreover, the competition will include a
motivating award, in line with nowadays
modern society requirements. ﬔis consists of an ecological Wi-Fi area – a fresh
relaxation area that is 100% green and
with free Internet access, worth 12,000
euros, which we hope will be a pleasant
and useful surprise to the winning township’s citizens. ﬔis area was the winning
project of our special content for young architects – Eco Wi-Fi Zone Design.
ﬔe “Town of Recycling” competition is organized in partnership with
the Romanian Association of Municipalities and the
Institute for
Public Policies,
and is being
promoted by
web portals Administrație.ro
and Domnuleprimar.ro.
More information about the second edition of the
“Town of Recycling” competition is
available at
www.ColecteazaSelectiv.ro.
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Page by lorita constantinescu, Public relations and communication manager