Sustainable Municipal Waste Management Process – Environmental Protection and
Profitable Public Investments
Abstract
Both the present waste management process in
Romania, which does not involve any selective
municipal waste collecting activities or adequate
storage facilities and EU requirements in what
concerns waste management (a significant
reduction of stored municipal waste and an
increase of recycling strategies and action plans)
represented the main reasons for choosing to
debate a series of strategic approaches towards
the abovementioned subject herein. We focused
both on the social and economic impact a
sustainable waste management process may
have trying to be as clear as possible about the
costs and the benefits of implementing a
national strategic action plan in the area.
Introduction
Our approach is not about words, these being
mainly a political job, but about facts, about
possible strategies that can “cure” the “waste
plague” which has been one of the major
problems in Romania for the last 20 (twenty)
years. The following pages are concerned with a
couple of strategic approaches we think might
solve the problem, each of them being analyzed
both in what concerns its strengths and
weaknesses.
The “waste plague” and possible solutions to
“cure” it
The first strategic approach concerned with
achieving a sustainable waste management
process in Romania provides the background for
splitting the waste management services market
into different “slices of the pie”, the operational
activities being outsourced to different
companies, each of them being responsible for
implementing the policy within their own area
of responsibility. The benefits implied by such a
way of solving the problem are obvious: a part
of the services associated to waste management
is easier to deal with in comparison to all of
them and the existence of more than one service
providers imply a certain degree of economic
competition which eventually will lead to an
increase in the quality of services provided to
the stakeholders and better value for money.
When the public authorities develop their own
operational waste management system, they
have to invest both in the development of the
collecting infrastructure (transporting vehicles,
containers etc) and in the human resources who
are supposed to deliver the activities implied by
the strategic delivery plan. The collecting,
transport and processing costs are also paid by
the responsible public authority. The main
advantage of such an approach is the fact that
they practically have the entire control over the
delivery process. The main disadvantage is the
fact that, in the case of smaller communities, the
insufficient economic development of the area
may generate poor return rates for the service
provider, the huge initial investment the
authority needs to make being economically
inefficient.
The solution of splitting the market into smaller,
easier to deal with, shares has the advantage that
each of the companies will focus on their own
area, not interfering with each-other, the citizens
being the only beneficiaries of this improved
implementation of the strategic action plan.
Another advantage which should be taken into
consideration in this particular case is the fact
that, once the services have been outsourced, the
public designated authorities will have more
time and resources to design better sustainable
waste management strategies, not having to be
concerned with the delivery of the strategic
action plan anymore. The overall costs of the
operational aspects involved would also be
smaller, due to the competition between the
legally established companies delivering waste
management services.
A few aspects should also be mentioned in what
concerns the disadvantages of the outsourcing
solution discussed herein. At the moment, due to
the recession period we are experiencing,
finding adequate operators to compete for the
delivering aspects implied by the sustainable
waste management strategy might be a very
difficult thing to achieve. The risks associated to
the establishment of a long term agreement such
as this one are very high, the winners of the
procurement process being likely to fail their
share of meeting the agreed provisions enforced
by means of the agreement discussed herein.
Another problem would be that, once the
services are outsourced, the prices might rise for
the private investors need to have good return
rates to achieve value to money. A direct
consequence of the higher prices on the market
would be higher taxes which need to be paid by
the stakeholders, a tremendous loss of social and
political capital being experienced by the
decision makers.
In what concerns the economic impact, by
attracting private investments which need to
produce high return rates in order to generate
profit, the prices paid by the stakeholders for the
municipal waste collecting services is expected
to rise by at least 100%, this being a challenging
expense for their already shrank recession
budgets. On the other hand, by creating jobs and
new sources of revenue for the local budget, the
investments would prove to be a medium term
economic hit
The implementation of this strategy would
positively impact on all sustainable
environmental issues. The municipal waste
management strategy is not delivered properly at
the time, one of the consequence being the
pollution of the environment (water, air, soil)
associated with a series of landscaping Municipal waste separation and selection
problems. The delivery of a sustainable waste processes can be performed both automatically
management action plan performed by the more and manually as long as secure working
than one selected companies would assure conditions are provided to all employees.
environment protection and sustainable
development for the cities of Romania. At the
same time, an adequate waste management
system is necessary in order to assure quality to
life for the stakeholders, the quality of the
environment being linked to the health of
everyone inhabiting it.

By processing all municipal waste in such a way

as to achieve value to money, a sustainable
market for renewable resources is created, the
overall carbon footprint being positively “Image 1. The Romanian plague”
influenced. Another approach suggested herein
The effectiveness of the two abovementioned
focuses mainly in encouraging companies to use
processes, performed after the waste has been
all the resources that can be identified at the
collected, can be reasonable in the case of some
level of municipal waste in Romania, the focus
resources like metal, wood, plastic, these
being both on material and energy generating
materials being suitable to enter a process of
waste usage.
composting and packaging shortly after they

An integrated strategy which promotes have been separated. Nevertheless, this is not the

sustainable municipal waste processing impacts case of other materials like glass, which can be

both on the quantity of raw material that is being very fragmented, or paper, which can be

used to produce goods and on the price of the polluted with other substances or other types of

recycled end products, the latter being cheaper municipal waste. The economic value of these

due to the inferior costs of the material used to materials would never justify such an investment

produce them. The proposed strategy aims to in their processing.

promote a sustainable municipal waste recycling

One of the main advantages of this strategic
action plan, the processes of selection and
approach is the fact that, in comparison to on
separation of different waste types being
field municipal waste separation, there is no
performed only after they have been collected
need for special collecting containers or any
and brought to a central processing facility.
other facilities, the initial public expenditure
being, in this case, reasonable.
In what concerns the economic impact, this
strategy involves high return rates for the
investments made during the first stages of the
process. The revenues, being further reinvested,
can help the community and regenerate the
obsolete existing municipal waste collecting
infrastructure. The recycling process also
facilitates a further reduction of operational
costs by providing a solution to cheap municipal
waste storage. On the other hand, if we are to
take into consideration the recession period
experienced by the contemporary society, the
prices paid for raw materials are more affordable
nowadays, the recycling businesses being on the
verge of collapsing for it cannot compete in
these new open market conditions.
The implementation of the strategy herein would
definitely have a positive impact on the
environment, the recycling process offering a lot
of eco-friendly solutions.
The joint efforts of the Romanian designated
authorities and the vast majority of the
stakeholders are needed in order to achieve a
sustainable municipal waste management
process. Selective municipal waste collecting is
an affordable solution and implies waste storage
in special designated facilities in order to assure
a cost effective recycling, this being another
solution we propose.
The forecasts predict an increase of 0,8% a year
in the case of the municipal waste produced, the
waste stored within special designated facilities
increasing correspondingly. The latter aspect
could be improved by means of developing a
special selective collecting infrastructure which
could lead to a better processing of municipal
waste and to an increase of the recycled goods
entering the market.
The implementation of a strategic action plan
associated to the strategy under discussion
implies an initial investment in the development
of a selective collecting infrastructure which
requires special facilities (special containers and
bags). According to the provisions of Regulation
1121/2006 the specific designated colors used to
identify the containers which are supposed to
store different types of waste are: White – white
glass; Green – colored glass; Blue – paper and
carton; Yellow – metal and plastic; Red –
dangerous waste; Brown –
biodegradable/compostable waste; Black –
waste which is impossible to process/recycle. In
order for this approach to be a success, the initial
infrastructural investment should be associated
to a publicity campaign, the latter aiming to
inform the stakeholders about the initiative, the
process and all the specific information in
relation to the strategy. In order for the
stakeholders to be receptive to the strategy
presented herein, certain financial benefits, like
tax reductions, could be provided.

“Image 2. Selective collecting containers”
This strategy generates a positive environmental
impact, the quality of life increasing
correspondently. As an EU member state,
Romania has to reduce the quantity of municipal
waste stored in inadequate facilities, and this
selective collecting waste management strategy
is an efficient solution to the problem.
result of its implementation depends, as we have
already mentioned before, on the mutual
partnership established between the
authorities and the stakeholders.
In conclusion, the benefits implied by making
the best of these strategies are: environmental
protection ( by selectively collecting the
municipal waste, reducing the improperly stored
waste and processing all renewable resources),
an increased level of community cohesion, all
stakeholders being active agents in the process
of implementing the strategy and developing
qualitative waste management infrastructure and
services ( adequate containers, means of
transportation, deposit and processing facilities).
Important quantities of energy (a television set
may function for three hours and a bulb up to 20
hours only by using the energy obtained by
recycling a single aluminum can), water and raw
materials will also be saved by developing a
specific recycled products market and the
The
municipal waste storage facilities will cover less
surfaces of polluted land.
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