The law that bans the sale and use of plastic bags took effect, but there is no appropriate control mechanism. According to the director of the National Food Safety Agency Ion Sula, the law does not specify who will assume the given control. Therefore, the legislation should stipulate the institutions in charge and their powers.

According to Ion Sula, the institution he represents, together with the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance and the State Ecological Inspectorate, will formulate proposals for improving the legislation, including the Contravention Code. “We will probably have a meeting with representatives of the given institution so as to make an approach to the Government to make the necessary changes. There are a number of possibilities. Either we will submit a legislative amendment proposal or the Government will make particular suggestions. As regards our institution, we will come together for a common meeting and will decide the next steps,” said the functionary.

As of January 1, 2019, the retail outlets cannot sell plastic bags with the thickness of 50 and more microns, others than those by which the people take the purchases home from shops, whose thickness is less than 50 microns and these will be banned as of January 1,2020. Ion Sula said the business entities started principally to comply with the law as the bags with the thickness of 50 and more microns cannot be found in the national stores.

Contacted by IPN, Ion Bulmaga, environment inspector of the State Ecological Inspectorate, said the Inspectorate’s duty is to check the companies that produce plastic bags. Most of the given companies will be examined during the inspections planned for 2019. “During inspections at business entities, we will see where the plastic goes. These companies should have contracts with persons authorized by the ministry in charge. Thus, each category of waste should be collected based on such a contract,” stated the inspector, noting the inspections will most probably start at the end of this month.

In Moldova, a person uses annually about 140 disposable plastic bags on average, which is a total of about 420 million bags. These bans decompose during several hundred years and emit toxic gases when they are burned.