The government misses the start of the great recycling of blankets

SC RetuRO SA has requested from the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests an extension of at least three months for the commissioning of the Return Guarantee System (SGR), which should have been operationalized on November 30, 2023, it is stated in a press release issued by the company that is the SGR administrator.

The press release states: "The request comes as a result of the extremely complex nature of the system, which requires a specific period of time for proper development and testing, but also to ensure an easier integration of all parties involved. (...) The main reasons underlying the request to extend the deadline are:

- project complexity and implementation challenges. The initiation of the SGR system faced complex challenges on multiple fronts, including equipment setup, software integration, and identifying and securing suitable locations for regional centers. This created contingencies and delays in the implementation phase.

- time constraints. The deadline allocated for the implementation of the system was three months shorter than that originally proposed by RetuRO in the accreditation file, which created a more compressed schedule than anticipated.

- public perception and civic education. Lack of essential knowledge in understanding how the system works. Therefore, RetuRO not only develops the system from scratch, but is also responsible for the information and education process, to familiarize all participants with the Return Guarantee System".

Regarding the postponement request, Gemma Webb, CEO & President of the Directorate of RetuRO Sistem Garantie Returnare SA stated:

"After an extensive and detailed assessment of what still needs to be done to have a working system and the complex challenges encountered, we are certain that a premature launch could jeopardize the trust of consumers, manufacturers and traders, undermining the system from the start. We recognize that these early stages are extremely difficult, but we believe that these concrete steps we are taking now will pave the way for an easier and more effective implementation in the next phases. The optimal period for implementation, based on the successful experiences of other countries, is 18 months, a duration that our shareholders informedly requested in our application for accreditation. But because the project license was not granted until August 2022, we had a three-month delay. In addition, the fact that I , as the first member of our team, we started the activity in November 2022, reduced the full implementation period to 12 months".

According to the data sent by the SGR Administrator, up to now more than 60,000 economic operators have registered in the Return Guarantee System, which in order to collect recyclable waste (blankets, glass and metal cans) will establish 11 counting centers, in addition to the 6 sorting and counting centers included in the accreditation file.

The press release issued by the company also contains some inadvertences, namely the fact that it has drawn up detailed contracts for producers, who were involved in public consultations. In reality, according to some producers who have already signed the respective contract, it is a standard contract about which the economic operators told us that the Returo representatives did not even want to discuss the negotiation of any clause, rather they summoned those enrolled in the SGR platform to sign the submitted contracts.

They claim that the delay in the implementation of the SGR is strictly the fault of those from Returo, who did not offer clear, viable contracts for producers and traders, who did not build all 17 collection centers and who did not choose the logistics partner to ensure the transport of recyclable waste to the respective centers. The economic operators claim that even the IT system that Returo was supposed to develop and make available to the companies enrolled in the SGR is not done, as it has not yet been tested to see if it works to the desired standards. At the same time, although so far Returo has benefited from money for the information campaign for economic agents and consumers, the campaign did not run according to the desired parameters and did not have the expected effect, the economic operators claim, a fact that led to the registration process in the SGR not being completed by the deadline of February 25, 2023.