The efforts of the inhabitants of the municipality of Chisinau to sort waste at source will not be useless. The collected refuse will no longer be buried, but will be processed and sorted by a private company with which the municipality signed a contract for the provision of services, IPN reports.
In the event to sign the contract, mayor of Chisinau Ion Ceban said all the solid waste collected in the city, about 190,000 tonnes a year, will be transmitted for processing either it was sorted at source or not. This will enable to recycle over 10% of the weight of waste or 40-45% of its volume in 2023.
According to the mayor, paper, cardboard, plastic, metal and glass will be identified for recycling at the first stage. The contract to the value of 217.5 million lei is valid for five years.
“We want first of all to diminish the impact on the environment, to have a circular economy. If we pollute less, we will store less waste and will this way have a friendly environment,” said the acting director of the municipal cleanup company “Autosalubritate” Igor Gîrlea.
At the initial stage, the company will pay 120 lei/tonne including VAT to the operator for sorting. At the second stage that will be launched in about a year and a half, the sorting company will be obliged to identity refuse-derived fuel for recycling. This will enable to recycle over 20% of the weight of waste collected in the city (over 38,000 tonnes) or about 70% of the waste transmitted for sorting.
Sergei Balica, director of the ABS recycling plant, noted that sorting is inevitable in waste management. ABS has over 30 years’ experience in the field and during six-seven years the company has also sorted refuse.
The municipal authorities will conduct campaigns to inform the citizens how to sort waste.