Law no. 132/2010

legea 132_final_2bucatiLaw no. 132/2010 regarding the obligation to selectively collect waste in public institutions is a legislative initiative proposed by the Green Revolution Association.

The law was adopted by the Parliament of Romania, published in the Official Gazette, no. 461/July 6th 2010 and came into force on August 6th 2010. In order to promote Law no. 132/2010, with the Commission for Public Administration, Landscaping and Ecological Balance from the Chamber of Deputies and with the support of the National Environmental Guard, National Association for Environmental Protection and Eco-Rom Ambalaje S.A., we initiated in September the campaign “Law no. 132/2010 – Public institutions collect selectively”. The implementation campaign is an information and communication one and its purpose is to increase the level of information and awareness of the employees in public institutions and of the citizens with respect to the advantages of selective waste collection and recycling.

Mandatory selective collection is a step forward towards assuming a responsible behavior with respect to natural resources. The law regarding selective collection obligates all 1,300,000 clerks working in public institutions to collect selectively paper, plastic, glass and metal in order to be revalued.
Sulfina Barbu, President of the Commission for Public Administration, Landscaping and Ecologic Balance in the Chamber of Deputies

The campaign’s organizers support the law’s implementation by drafting and providing, free of charge, to public institutions, online or in printed format, the following materials: implementation guide for Law 132/2010, plan of necessary measures for the law’s implementation, text emailing for the institution’s employees, promotional materials for selective collection within the institution (A3 posters, A5 flyers) and special online program to facilitate the reporting of selectively collected waste. The law can be downloaded here in pdf format.
The campaign “Law no. 132/2010 – Public institutions collect selectively” started with a pilot project and its plan was presented on September 8th 2010, at the office of the National Environmental Guard, in a press conference attended by the initiators’ representatives. The campaign’s pilot-project took place during September 2010 – January 2011 and of the implementation of Law no. 132/2010 in six public institutions in Romania: Presidential Administration, Government and Ministries of Health; of Administration and Internal Affairs, of Education, of Research, Youth and Sports and of Justice.

Update November 2012

Until November 2012, 1,900 institutions with national coverage were included in the campaign for the implementation of Law no. 132/2010.

  • Institutions from all ministries in Romania are included;
  • the largest numbers of institutions that replied to our requests were in Botosani, Alba, Bistrita-Nasaud and Ilfov counties;
  • most institutions included in the campaign are: schools, kindergartens and high schools, city halls, museums, theatres.

Update November 2011

Until November 2011, 1,060 Romanian institutions (more than 800,000 employees) were included in the campaign for the promotion of Law no. 132/2010. The campaign included 80% of all ministries, prefectures, county councils, city halls – of county capitals and those of the next two important cities in all the counties of Romania.

Of these institutions
  • 90% implemented the selective collection system;
  • 5% of them requested the campaign’s materials (posters, flyers and guides);
  • the other ones chose to download from the internet; the largest numbers of institutions that replied to our requests were in Suceava, Harghita, Neamt, Vaslui, Arges and Brasov counties;
  • most institutions included in the campaign are: schools, kindergartens and high schools, city halls, museums, theatres.

The campaign’s mesh was on the buildings of the Ministry of Education, City Hall of Timisoara, Urban Serv Botosani.

I believe that Law no. 132/2010 regarding selective waste collection in public institutions is an important step towards the education of adult population, in the action to make all the employees in state institutions more responsible. Most likely this law will have leaders of opinion amongst state clerks as regards selective collection and we expect that they will contribute to the population’s awareness with respect to environmental protection.
Silvian Ionescu, former General Commissary of the National Environmental Guard
About Law no. 132/2010

The purpose of Law no. 132/2010 is to increase the level of waste recycling and valuing and it regulates the selective collection of paper, carton, metal, plastic and glass waste in public institutions, by establishing the organization and operation of selective collection. Law no. 132/2010 is also a support measure for the enforcement in Romania of Directive 2008/98/CE of the European Parliament regarding waste, which stipulates that member states need to organize selective waste collection systems, the objective being to reach the goal of at least 50% waste recycling, imposed to the member states by the year 2020.

The enforcement of Law no. 132/2010 will certainly lead to the increase of the quantity of waste packaging that is collected and recycled in Romania. But perhaps the most important effect of the law will be the educational one. Approximately 1.3 million Romanians working in state institutions will collect waste selectively at work, starting this fall. If part of these measures will also be taken at home, then we can say that law no.132/2010 will make green education to 1 to 4 million Romanians.
And in this case we can say that the project conducted by the Commission for Public Administration, Landscaping and Ecologic balance in the Chamber of Deputies, in partnership with the Green Revolution Association will be one of the most successful projects in Romania.
Raluca Fiser, President of Green Revolution Association