Alina Oprea • 3 October, 2023 at 10:15 AM
The first centre for counting and sorting beverage packaging, which will be part of the Guarantee-Return System (SGR), will be opened in Cluj County on November 30. Practically, in this centre, located inside the Olympian industrial park in Bonţida commune, the counting and sorting of beverage packages collected from merchants will be carried out, announced RetuRO, the SGR administrator. Both manually and automatically collected beverage packages will be transported to this center, using RVM-type equipment. Glass packaging will be counted, broken, and prepared for recycling. Metal (aluminum and steel) and plastic packaging will be counted, sorted, and compacted to be sent to recycling companies.
"All our efforts are focused, at this moment, on the operationalization of the SGR system. The development of the sorting and counting points is ongoing and our priority is to ensure that we have the capacity to handle the volumes of packaging that will be brought to market in the early stages of the system's operation. Contracting and preparing the industrial premises necessary for the implementation of the Guarantee-Return System proved to be a challenge, considering the absolute novelty of the system, but especially the magnitude. The center in Cluj County will be ready for operation at the end of November, following a period of 30 days of testing the installed equipment. Around 800 million beverage packages will be sorted here annually and sent to recyclers. Despite all the challenges related to the implementation of the SGR, we remain firmly engaged in our mission to prepare Romania for the largest circular economy project in history and a future in which each of us contributes to a cleaner and greener Romania", he declared Gemma Webb, CEO and president of the RetuRO Directorate.
The construction and arrangement of the logistics space related to the center, which will have a total area of over 4,700 square meters, is in full swing, and when this stage is completed, the installation of the counting and sorting equipment provided by the supplier Anker Andersen A will begin /S from Denmark, which will deliver to RetuRO 20 counting machines in this phase, capable of sorting approximately 6,500 packages/hour.
"The center in Cluj County is scheduled for official opening on November 30, 2023. At the RetuRO center in Bonţida, both manually and automatically collected beverage packaging will be transported, using RVM-type equipment. Glass packaging will be counted, broken, and prepared for recycling. Metal (aluminum and steel) and plastic packaging will be counted, sorted, and compacted to be sent to recycling companies. The company is currently conducting a staff recruitment campaign for all 17 national centers, with the objective being approximately 600 employees by the summer of next year, of which at least 500 will work in the sorting and counting centers throughout the country", emphasizes the SGR administrator.
In total, SGR will operate in Romania with 17 centers at the national level, where RetuRO, as the SGR administrator, will transport the beverage packages collected from the approximately 80,000 merchants.
"They will be counted and sorted to be transported, then, to the recycling companies, in order to produce recycled raw material, which will be used in the production of new beverage packaging. The investment in all 17 national centers represents the largest part of the 100% private financing obtained by RetuRo from ING Bank, as part of one of the largest private loans granted in Romania for environmental projects. The SGR infrastructure will be developed gradually, until the middle of next year, simultaneously with the increase in the volume of beverage packaging placed on the market by producers, returned by consumers, and collected by traders", the press release states.
RetuRO Sistem Garantie Returnare S.A. is a company that operates on the "not for profit" principle, which means that any profit made by the company following the collection of beverage packaging will be reinvested, exclusively, in the development of SGR.
The company was created by a consortium of three private shareholders – the Association of Romanian Brewers for the Environment (30%), the Association of Soft Drink Producers for Sustainability (30%) and the Association of Retailers for the Environment (20%), and a public shareholder, the Romanian state, through the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests (20%).
From the moment the System is implemented, Romanians will pay a guarantee of 50 money when they buy a bottled drink (water, soft drinks, beer, cider, wine, spirits) from a retailer. Later, after emptying the packaging, the consumer will have to bring it to one of the return points organized by the merchants, and in return, the consumer will receive back, on the spot, the value of the guarantee initially paid, without being conditioned by the presentation of the tax receipt.