In the new centre, covering an area of approximately 4,400 square meters, only beverage containers returned by consumers through DRS, marked with specific barcodes and the "Deposit Guarantee Packaging" logo, will be counted, sorted, and sent for recycling.
"Since the official launch of the Deposit-Return System in Romania on November 30th, we have witnessed a gradual integration of DRS packaging in retail stores. Manufacturers and importers have already transitioned to producing exclusively DRS packaging, while retailers have ordered the first collection kits and are preparing to accept empty containers from consumers, which RetuRO will then collect from their stores. But this is an objective we cannot achieve alone," said Gemma Webb, CEO and Chair of the RetuRO Board of Directors.
RetuRO will gradually develop the infrastructure of regional DRS centres by the end of the year, simultaneously with the increase in the volume of beverage packaging placed on the market by manufacturers, returned by consumers, and collected by retailers.
"The capacity of this centre to process approximately 8 million packages per month highlights the importance and necessity of such initiatives. It is important to mention that in Romania, with the approximately 7 billion packages that we aim to recover annually from the market, we are implementing the second-largest Deposit-Return System in Europe, following the example of Germany, which processes 18 billion packages per year," mentioned Mircea Fechet, Minister of Environment, Waters, and Forests.
In the near future, RetuRO will announce other strategic locations that will be prepared to support the Deposit-Return System, emphasizing the company's commitment to expanding the network and developing infrastructure for a more sustainable future. Estimates show that, together with the RetuRO centre in Bonțida, the DRS administrator will process approximately one billion beverage packages annually.
DRS was implemented in Romania starting November 30th, 2023, from which date Romanians should pay a deposit of 50 bani when purchasing a bottled beverage (water, soft drinks, beer, cider, wine, spirits) from a retailer.
