Minister of Environment Iuliana Cantaragiu said waste should be first recycled and then converted into energy given the constant diminution of natural resources, primarily of nonrenewable ones, such as natural gas, oil and iron ore. It happens amid the constant rise in the global population that maintains an expanding demand for products. Either the business entities are recyclers or not, they should comply with the environmental legislations and should work based on environmental authorizations, as the law provides, IPN reports.

“It is everyone’s responsibility to primarily temper consumption and then to recycle. At the same time, science hasn’t yet created recycling options for all types of materials that are produced at present or are products with combined components, contaminated products that make recycling not possible or not competitive and these can be turned into energy. This is waste with a high value added. A large part of such waste contains crude oil, such as the tires. Respectively, the industries that use a lot of fuel in the production processes, such as thermal power stations and steel works, can use this type of waste that represents fuel in solid form to replace a part of the consumed fossil fuel. This way, the quantity of extracted fossil fuel decreases and this fuel could be used by the next generations,” stated the minister.

During a rally outside the Government building last week, the Green Ecologist Party asked Minister of Environment Iuliana Cantaragiu to resign over a number of decisions that it considers “harmful to the environment”. The party mentioned in particular the Ministry’s intention to authorize incineration of tires and waste, and the permission to import scrap metal for the Rîbnița Steel Works, among others.