“In Romania we are only collecting about 13 percent of the municipal waste, and we are hoping that the Deposit-Return System will help us shift away from these bad numbers to a level of performance similar to other countries where this system is already implemented.

We hope that after the third year of implementation we will a reach a more than 90 percent collection rate for beverage containers in the DRS system. A lot of changes are happening in Romania through this system, and we are waiting for progress to be made in the coming period,” Mircea Fechet, Minister of Environment, Waters and Forests, said during “Glass Loop Action Plan for Romania” conference organized by the Circular Economy Coalition and Close the Glass Loop.

“The DRS will change the face of the beverage industry and I’m sure it will lead to new jobs, more investments, new technologies.

We will have to deal with hundreds of thousands of tons of glass in Romania. This means we must keep investing in new capacities.

In 2023, 135,000 tons of glass was put into recycled products. Every kilo of glass from the DRS and not only should enter the recycling companies, because that will lead to new jobs, but also to a better environment.

The DRS system is getting stronger and stronger every day, and record collecting rates are being set every week. I would like to thank the RetuRO team for their hard work.”