Citizens as well as economic operators will be obliged to conclude contracts for the provision of sanitation services with the operator in the region where they live or work. Fees and tariffs will be set according to a methodology approved by the government. In the absence of a contract, citizens will be obliged to pay a sanitation fee. The provisions are contained in a draft law passed today by Parliament in first reading, IPN reports.

Grigore Stratulat, secretary of state at the Environment Ministry, said that the new provisions give local public authorities the possibility to apply two options for financing the sanitation service. The first is the sanitation tax, which will cover activities such as waste collection, transfer, sorting, organizing processing, recycling. There are also other activities, including sweeping, washing, street washing, street spraying, snow clearing, disinfection, pest control, etc.

In localities where the authorities opt for a different method of financing, the hybrid system will be implemented. There will be a fee for waste management if the person has a contract with the service provider or a special fee if the person has no contract with the service provider. The latter fee will cover only activities related to sweeping, washing, snow-clearing, disinfecting and pest control on public roads.

The new rules will oblige local public authorities to organize separate waste collection into at least three fractions - recyclables, bottles and mixed waste. If they have sufficient financial resources, they will be able to collect separately even in five fractions. The authorities will also set up collection points with different colored containers for different types of waste.

Bio-waste from parks, gardens, green spaces, the general public and businesses will be collected separately and transported to the composting plant.

The draft law will be voted on in its final reading and the new provisions will enter into force within six months from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

According to data from the Environment Ministry, there are currently 197 sanitation services. 54 of them are in urban areas and 143 in rural areas. In total, 313 localities are covered by public sanitation services. In cities the coverage rate is 75%, while in villages it is only 15%.