5th CEWEP Congress on Waste-to-Energy 2010  30 June to 2 July, in Antwerp

POSTER SESSION SUMMARY

WtE development in ROMANIA

I.

Waste Management
Situation

Romania is situated in the south-east of Central Europe, in the lower Danube River basin, bordering in
east with the Black Sea. Area: 238,391 sq km; Population: 21,537,563 inhabitants;
Capital: Bucharest: 2,000,000 inhabitants.
The responsibility for municipal waste management lies with the local public administrations, which,
directly or after having licensed an authorized private operator, have to provide collection, selective
collection, transportation, treatment and final disposal of this waste.
EU legislation on Waste Management has been fully transposed through:
 Romanian National Strategy and National Plan for Waste Management approved in
2004 G.D. 1470/2004.
 DETAILED WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANS FOR 8 REGIONS approved in December
2007.
National and Regional Strategies for 2004 2008:
 Reduction of the environmental impact of the existing landfills that are not in compliance with
EU legislation.
 Implementation of separate collection systems (for households).
 Construction of transfer stations, sorting plants, composting plants, landfills (minimum one for
each county), recycling plants.
 Implementation of energy recovery is being considered for after 2013.
The implementation of Integrated Waste Management in Romania is performed through Sectorial
Operational Programme (SOP) ENVIRONMENT 2007 2013. The overall objective of SOP is to
protect and improve the environment and living standards in Romania, focusing in particular on
meeting the EU environmental law. The aim is to reduce the infrastructure gap in the field of
environmental protection that exists between the European Union and Romania both in terms of
quantity and quality. This should result in more effective and efficient services, while taking fully into
account sustainable development and the polluter pays principle. The specific objectives of the SOP
ENV for waste management will be realized through Priority Axis 2 - Development of sustainable
waste management systems, by improving waste management and reducing the number of
historically contaminated sites in minimum 30 counties by 2015.

Community Funding

Financial Plan for the period 2007 2013

National Contribution

Total Funding

934.223.079

233.555.770

1.167.778.849

Municipal Waste

281,2 million tonnes of waste were generated in 2007: approximately 215,066 million tonnes
produced by mining industry, approximately 57,235 million tonnes of other industrial waste and
approximately 8,9 million tonnes municipal waste. Around 40% of the municipal waste components
are recyclable materials out of which about 20% can be recovered, as they are not contaminated.
The amount of municipal waste generated is 450 kg/capita. The collection of household waste is not
generalized at a countrys level. In 2007, municipal councils and the sanitation operators have
collected household waste from 83,1% of the urban area population and 11,79% from the rural
area population, that is, at a national level, an average of 51%.
Transition period objectives and targets 2009 - Implementation of the separate collection of
municipal waste in urban area - fully implemented. 2013 Recycling of packaging waste generated
volumes. 2017 Closure of 238 existing municipal landfills which are not in compliance with EU
regulations and construction of 65 new landfills in compliance with EU regulations.

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5th CEWEP Congress on Waste-to-Energy 2010  30 June to 2 July, in Antwerp

POSTER SESSION SUMMARY

Treatment

The percentage of separate collection of municipal waste - 2%.

Out of a total of generated municipal waste, approximately 98%
is landfilled each year. 24 landfills for municipal waste are in
compliance with EU legislation landfill tax between 12 20
/tonne. 1 landfill for hazardous waste landfill tax between 200
600 /tonne. 6 large sorting plants (over 100.000 tonnes/year).
Existing recycling facilities: Plastics over 140.000 tonnes/year;
Paper and cardboard over 400.000 tonnes/year; Aluminium
over 500.000 tonnes/year; Glass over 100.000 tonnes/year. 8
regional incineration plants for medical hazardous waste in
operation capacities of 3.500 10.000 tonnes/year. Coincineration in cement kilns 7 units total capacity 350.000
tonnes/year.

Map 1 Location of the existing landfills

in compliance with EU legislation (2009)

II.

WtE development
Overview

In Romania there are no installations for energy recovery from MSW (June 2010). New Romanian
Waste Management Strategy for the period 2009 2015 (in approval procedure) considers that
energy recovery from MSW should be made possible after the year 2009 and it should be at the
level of 17% of the total MSW generated quantity, which represents 1,5 millions tonnes/year.
WtE plants should be constructed and operated under the following technical and economic
conditions:
 Quantity of MSW available minimum 150.000 tonnes/year (equivalent population of
minimum 300.000 inhabitants).
 Existing consumers for the energy (heat and electricity) produced by the plants.
 Plants must respect all the EU and Romanian legislation (Waste-to-Energy concept and
Energy Efficiency 0,65).
Responsibility for the permit is at the Regional level (Regional Environmental Protection Agency).
Feasibility Studies for 3 locations have been made: Timioara, Bucharest and Braov.
Ex. Household waste composition in Timioara
2008 (%)
Biodegradables
Paper
Cardboard
Composites
Textiles
Plastics
Glass
Metal
Bulky
Non combustible
Hazardous
Fines(<40 mm)
Others
TOTAL
Calorific Value

34
7
4
2
3
12
5
1
2
4,45
2
20 from which 14 biodegradable
10
100
Min - 6,500 kJ/kg
Max - 12,500 kJ/kg

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5th CEWEP Congress on Waste-to-Energy 2010  30 June to 2 July, in Antwerp

POSTER SESSION SUMMARY

Ex. MSW management in Bucharest

MSW MANAGEMENT IN BUCHAREST
Municipal waste generated in Bucharest after 2013: 970 000t/y

Selective collection
~ 240 000t/y

Mixed collection
~ 720 000t/y

Green waste
~ 20 000t/y
Food waste
~ 10 000t/y

Packaging waste
Selective collection
~ 150 000t/y

Sorting
composting
~ 20 000t/y

Sorting Packing up
~ 20% residues

~ 10 000t/y
Recovery
~ 10 000t/y
Animal Meal

~ 120 000t/y
Recycling Companies

Incineration
Capacity ~ 750 000t/y

Landfill
Final disposal ~ 180 000t/y

Facts and figures

Location

Planned
capacity

Technology

Time frame

Financing
structure

Timioara

150.000 t/a

Reverse acting
grates

Estimated
2011-2013

Public

Braov

150.000 t/a

Reverse acting
grates

Estimated
2011-2013

Public / EU
funding

Bucharest

First module:
150.000 t/a
Total estimated
capacity:
750.000 t/a

Reverse acting
grates

Estimated
2011-2013

Public / EU
funding

Region 1 North
- East

300.000 t/a

Reverse acting
grates

Estimated
after 2013

Public / EU
funding

300.000 t/a

Reverse acting
grates

Estimated
after 2013

Public / EU
funding

Capacity
5,5 MW
electricity
27 MW heat
5,5 MW
electricity
27 MW heat
First module:
6 MW electricity
28 MW heat
11 MW
electricity
54 MW heat
11 MW
electricity
54 MW heat

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5th CEWEP Congress on Waste-to-Energy 2010  30 June to 2 July, in Antwerp

POSTER SESSION SUMMARY

Map 2 Location of the proposed WtE Plants in Romania

Development in other waste treatment options
Feasibility studies for the implementation of other waste treatment methods i.e. Anaerobic Digestion or
MBT have not been elaborated (situation: March, 2010).
Contact
Romanian Association of Solid Waste Management (ARS) National Member of ISWA, Affiliate
Member of FEAD
51-55, 1 Mai Avenue, 5Th Floor, District 6, Bucharest, Romania Tel/Fax: 0040 21 316 27 69 E-mail:
ars@clicknet.ro; alexei.atudorei@yahoo.com
Viorel MARCU Director, Dr. Alexei Atudorei Scientific secretary

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