Republic of Moldova experience significant increase in generation of plastic waste, particularly with increase of sales volumes and replacement of traditional packaging (paper, glass, etc) with LDPE, PET, PE materials- all influencing quantities and composition of generated waste. At legal level; Moldova has adopted the Law on Waste no 209/2016 and Packaging and packaging waste regulation, approved by GD 561/2020, which provide for implementation of the EPR principle for packaging waste. The regulation entered into force in the beginning of 2023 and several EPR schemes have been created and are in initial phase of operation. The mentioned above legislation is in process of amending and is to be supplemented with provisions related to setting up a DRS system for packaging. Business has been consulted and is supporting the initiative. several workshops on this subject took place in the last year.
The project “Building capacities for establishment of Deposit Return System“, financed by the Lithuanian Development Cooperation programme, builds on the need to establish and put into operation the DRS in the Republic Moldova for packaging from beverages, as one of the best option to ensure high collection and recovery rates for some types of packaging, as experience of countries is proving. The project beneficiaries are the Ministry of Environment, Environment Agency, Environment Protection Inspection and producers that place on market packed products, mainly beverages. The expected outputs are creation of premises for establishment of DRS by amending the relevant.
The project aims to set the grounds for establishment of the DRS system in Moldova by building dialogue between environment authorities and business and has the following objectives:
- Legal background for DRS in place
- Business community engaged in the process of DRS establishment
- Each relevant stakeholder is aware if its role and responsibilities in the process of establishment and operation of DRS.
The first workshop with business representatives on establishment of DRS was held on 20 July, 2023 and gathered environment control and enforcement authorities, and business community represented by producers putting on market single use or reusable packaging, as well as packaging waste recyclers. The proposed amendments to the legislation with regards to DRS were proposed and discussed and the experience of Lithiania shared.
The second workshop organized in the frames of the project on 10 October, 2023 gathered also environment control and enforcement authorities, and business community to present and discuss the progress done in developing the lagel framework for DRS and present the steps to be undertaken by the economic operators in order to establish the DRS on packaging.
