The Romanian Government has ordered its Border Police and Environmental Guard to increase inspections of imports following a huge rise in the number of illegal waste imports.
Just this week, the Border Police and Environmental Guard discovered containers full of rubber tyres that were labelled as plastic waste that had been exported from the UK. These containers are now being returned.
Another shipment this week from Norway was found to contain old car parts, even though the documentation said it was a single scrap metal.
Illegal waste from Bulgaria, Italy, Germany and Portugal has also been discovered in the past 10 days.
Romanian Environment Minister Tanczos Barna believes that organised crime is behind the imports.
He said: “The waste import is illegal. Significant recyclable waste amounts are being sold within the European Union from one state to another.
“We agreed with the police on the ways to restrict the access of certain products in Romania, to scan trucks, to see what they contain, and to compare the findings with the documents.
“It is a constant fight against the mafia. There are several criminal organised groups around these activities.”
However, the Minister also conceded that Romania does not have adequate waste collection infrastructure and this made it necessary to import waste materials for its manufacturing sector.
