The FINANCIAL — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is financing the modernisation of the waste management system in Iași, a county in north-eastern Romania, with a €5.2 million loan.
The funding will co-finance the €55.9 million investment programme aimed at lifting the county’s waste management system to EU standards. The European Regional Development Fund is supporting the programme with a €37.6 million grant, while Romania itself is contributing €13.1 million, according to EBRD.
Under the investment programme, the county will expand its main landfill while closing the environmentally non-compliant facilities. The authorities will also buy new equipment for the collection and transport of waste, and will build transfer and sorting stations.
It is envisaged that private sector companies will be involved to ensure that waste management services are efficient and sustainable.
In addition, the county will conduct an awareness-raising campaign to encourage households and businesses to separate and recycle waste and promote home composting as the most environmentally-friendly way of disposing kitchen and garden waste.
Romania has committed to modernising its waste management services to reach EU standards by 2020. To achieve this goal the country has to reduce the biodegradable waste disposed in landfills, boost recycling of packaging waste and close rural dumpsites and environmentally non-compliant waste landfills step by step.
James Hyslop, EBRD Director for Municipal and Environmental Infrastructure, said: “A modern waste management system compliant with EU standards will provide major environmental and social benefits for the entire population of Iași County. We are pleased to join forces with the EU and the Romanian state in changing people’s lives in Romania’s third largest county.”
Matteo Patrone, EBRD Director for Romania, added: “This is our first investment in the modernisation of Romania’s waste management system at a regional level. Together with our partners, we are bringing EU-compliant sanitation solutions to 720,000 people and are also creating 150 new jobs. We hope that Iași will set an example that other Romanian counties and municipalities will follow.”
Improving the quality of infrastructure is part of the EBRD’s strategy in Romania. The Bank is a leading institutional investor in Romania, with almost €600 million invested in 2014 alone. The Bank has invested over €7 billion in the country to date and has also mobilised more than €14 billion for these ventures from other sources of financing.
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