RetuRO Answers - Part 1
I’ll start with a confession. I haven't yet personally tested the Deposit-Return System, launched on November 30, 2023, in Romania, simply because I haven't accumulated enough packaging. We don't buy bottled water, we don't drink sodas, beer is my favorite, indeed, but how much beer can I drink? Wine, quite rarely, and not all bottles yet have the "Guarantee Packaging" logo on them. In conclusion, I've gathered too few bottles. I'm waiting to fill a bag to make a trip to the store worthwhile.
I've said it many times that recycling is the last solution we should resort to on the path to a more sustainable lifestyle, only after we have tried reducing consumption, eliminating plastic from our purchases as much as possible, reusing, refilling, and so on. And here, by applying these principles, you really get rid of a lot of packaging. At least from beverage packaging, as these are the only ones included, at least for now, in the system.
But I promoted the SGR even before it launched, because I understood that we have no other chance to achieve our recycling targets, namely 65% in 2024, for plastic, glass, and aluminum. And, of course, I followed all the online and offline debates about how the system works. I saw that there are dissatisfactions, dilemmas, questions of all kinds. So I gathered the most common ones and took them to RetuRo, the system administrators, to get answers directly from the source.
Before delving into the issues, however, let's look at the figures from the beginning of the year until now. These figures are public; you can consult them anytime, after each month, here.
SGR X-ray
Of the 1 billion beverage packages placed on the market since the beginning of the year, over 160 million packages have been collected through automatic machines in supermarkets.
How do we interpret a collection rate of 16%? Is it good? Is it bad? Does it show us that the system works or not?
It depends on who you ask.
RetuRo representatives are optimistic. They look at the first half of April and see that 70 million PETs, aluminum cans, and bottles have been collected. 70 million in two weeks, compared to 160 million in 4 months. So the collection rate is increasing significantly.
People who returned home with bags of bottles because the machines weren't working or were turned away by merchants will probably say that the system is not functional.
Just a few months after launch, however, definitive judgments like IT WORKS/IT DOESN'T WORK might be premature. If we look at the other 14 countries that have implemented similar systems so far, we will see that the situation in Romania does not differ too much.
And this gives us confidence that we can also get close to the results obtained in other countries, 2-3 years after the system's implementation, namely collection rates of 70% or even 90%. That is the objective! That's why this system was introduced in Romania as well.
And let's see how we can get there! Especially in the context of the difficulties identified by well-intentioned people, who, by the way, say they went to the store for nothing.
Malfunctioning machines
To really understand if the problem of malfunctioning machines is serious or not, we need numbers. Maybe only five machines broke down, and the people who encountered them were the most vocal.
I asked RetuRO if they had any statistics regarding the status of the machines. How many were installed, how many problems were detected, if they conducted any inspections in this regard. And here’s the answer I received from Anca Marinescu, Corporate Affairs and Communication Manager at RetuRO:
“We cannot conduct inspections. The machines belong solely to the retailers. Because they are obligated to collect, but they are not obligated to do it in any specific way. They can do it automatically with the help of machines or manually. We, RetuRO, cannot control them. We are partners in this process. The only entities that can control them are state bodies, the Environmental Guard, ANPC, or any other institution with control capabilities in this area.
But we look at how much is still being collected through RVMs. I mentioned that in April, 5 million packages per day were collected. 5 million packages every day means that these RVMs are indeed working. Perhaps there's a proportion of 1%, 2%, 3% that have moments when they don't work. It's natural. And behind every machine, ultimately, there is still a person. Their bags get full, and then someone from the store staff has to come and open the machine, remove the full bag, and put in a new one. There's a period when, indeed, the machine won't work for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, however long it takes that person to empty the bags and put in a new one. It's simply a problem of adapting to a new system, I think.”
What can we do in such a situation?
If the machine is not working, some retailers have also provided people with the option of manual collection. In a supermarket, for example, a cash register is opened specifically for such situations, and we can return there. But this is the happy case, where merchants have done this voluntarily. If there is no such alternative, we will simply have to come back another time with the packaging; we cannot just abandon them in the store. There is no law or regulation that gives us the right to do that.
However, if the situation repeats several days in a row, we can call and file a complaint with RetuRO.
“We have a call center; they can also call us because we are constantly in touch with retailers. And we get a lot of reported issues. In our call center, 90% of calls are from merchants. Merchants who need to register in the system. Because it’s natural for it to be this way. We are their interface with the system, merchants are the consumer's interface with the system. We move in a chain. And for us, 90% are retailers, very few consumers.
But we really encourage them, if there are recurring problems, to call us and report them, because we also keep in touch with all major retailers, with all producers for packaging that is not accepted, for example, in RVMs. Because it happens, there are cases of packaging whose code was not properly entered into the packaging registry, and then you go with the packaging and the RVM doesn’t accept it. These are all sorts of specific cases that we try to cover ourselves and maintain as much contact as possible with both producers and retailers,” says Anca Marinescu.
Merchants refusing to accept packaging
Even more serious than malfunctioning machines are cases where merchants simply refuse to accept packaging. On grounds that they don't have enough space or that the PETs weren't bought from them, or who knows what other excuses.
RetuRo's message in this case is clear: those who do this are breaking the law. All merchants are obliged to accept packaging with the "Guarantee Packaging" logo, regardless of whether they have a sales area of less than 200 square meters. In such a situation, they can associate with other smaller stores to find a solution.
However, before talking about possible sanctions, perhaps we should better explain the commercial disadvantages, according to the system administrators.
“Pressure must also come from consumers, from our point of view. Because they are the primary beneficiaries of the system. We are all consumers at some point. Even the retailer becomes a consumer in turn. And then the pressure that the consumer puts on the retailer will work at some point. Because no one wants to lose customers.
If I, a customer, come to you, a merchant, today, and say, "I want you to take my packaging." You say, "I don't do returns."
Okay, today I leave and come back to buy bread or water or whatever I usually buy from you. But the day after tomorrow, it might happen that when I go to return the packaging to the big retailer you told me does returns, and you don’t, I'll do my shopping there too. And then you will lose customers. Losing customers, one today, two tomorrow, seventy the day after, I think the market and the economy will force you to start this collection process too."
In lieu of conclusions
For other issues, such as merchants refusing to give money or the need to return packaging intact, the second part of the article will follow.
Until then, however, I would like to clarify a point that I don’t know how many people are aware of. Discussions about the system's advisability, whether there was any point in implementing it, are simply meaningless in the context of the new rules being prepared at the European level. By 2029, all European Union countries must separately collect 90% of the PETs and aluminum cans placed on the market, and to achieve this goal, they must implement Deposit-Return Systems.
Therefore, such collection systems will soon become mandatory for all countries that cannot otherwise recycle enough. Romania being such a country, since for 30 years we have not managed to recycle more than 13% by any other method.
And then I ask you: Why not be glad that we have this grace period to test the system, to perfect it, by implementing it voluntarily, before being forced to do so by the European Union? Because any obligation eventually comes with sanctions for non-compliance.
