EnviMin Gavrilescu: Those who throw waste in inappropriate places should pay high fines

Those who throw waste in inappropriate places have to pay very high fines and, following the monitoring of the current situation, we will bring legislative amendments in this respect, Minister of Environment Gratiela Gavrilescu stated, when referring to the situation in which a very large quantity of PET reached reservoirs, being carried by the water drained from the slopes.

"The reservoirs don't belong to the Environment Ministry. The Environment Ministry has control only over all those who breach the law, who throw PETs either on the riverbed or in the forests. The measures have been taken ever since 2015, when we amended the Picnic Law, when we implemented that all of our tourism actions be regulated and the sanctions amended. Just this week we issued a ministerial order through which, my colleagues with the National Environmental Guard and the National Environmental Protection Agency, together with the Control Directorate of the Environment Ministry, toured the country in order to see precisely the places where, after the floods, such wastes were collected that have been thrown by people in trouble with the law, so that we find certain measures, including legislative amendments to tighten, when appropriate, these sanctions. Those who breach the law must pay very high fines!," Gavrilescu stated.

The Environment Minister hold a joint press conference with National Defence Minister Mihai Fifor, within which it was announced that Romania will house a Center of Excellence for the Environment Protection, under the coordination of the two ministries, the purpose of the authorities in Bucharest being that this new entity receive NATO accreditation and be affiliated with this international body.

The inauguration of the new Centre is estimated to take place on 29 November 2018 and the costs will be borne by the budget of the Environment Fund.