In 2019, Romania introduced legislation to make the sorting of waste a legal requirement in order for the sanitation providers to recycle waste.

At that time, people were instructed to ensure that their trash must be separated into the different bins, designated for specific kinds of waste, or face a fine of up to 2,000 lei (up to 40,000 lei for legal entities). More information about this can be found here.

However, years have passed since the introduction of the legislation and multiple selective waste disposal sites have been erected around the city, but ROSAL, the company responsible for waste management have been captured on many occasions, simply disposing of all the trash into the same truck.

A Facebook Group member posted the following images, with the caption, “Congratulations Rosal! Nice little “selective ” collection”.

Unfortunately, attitudes to recycling have been continuously damaged due to the the belief of the community, that all of the waste ends up in the same landfill and that it's all just “for show”.

However, the city has recently been investing in a much larger and high-tech waste management facility and steps are being taken to ensure that situations, like those pictured above, no longer happen.

That being said, there are still many properties who have not been provided with the correct sorting containers and are being required to purchase their own in order to adhere to the legal requirements set out in the legislation.