Representatives of local public authorities in Briceni, Ocnita, Edinet and Donduseni rayons and the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction, Ministry of Environment and North Regional Development Agency (North RDA) participated, from 7 to 12 December 2014, in a study visit in Romania, in waste management. The event was financially supported and organized by the German Development Cooperation through GIZ in partnership with the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction,  within the project ‚Modernization of local public services in the Republic of Moldova’.

North Development Region delegation visited Arges, Sibiu and Mures counties, where are in progress waste management projects financed by the European Union through Sector Operational Programme Environment.

Participants in the study visit obtained technical information on integrated waste management systems, financial mechanisms and lessons learned during projects implementation.

‚We are pleased with this study visit. Waste management in Romania can be a good model for the 14 localities covered by a project that we prepared to be implemented’ says Larisa Ciornai, Deputy Mayor of Lipcani.

‚Solid waste management projects are among the most difficult to achieve. That is why the experience of Romania in this area will help us in learning how to avoid some mistakes that can be avoided from the beginning, so that our projects are sustainable in this area “, said Rodelia Vasilcov, Deputy Mayor of Edinet.

During the visit, meetings were held with representatives of the county councils, units of project development and inter-municipal development associations, meetings in which they discussed technical, institutional and financial issues.

In each county, after the meeting, were visited landfills, sorting stations, composting stations and a transfer station. In order to have a better image on waste management in these counties, the delegation visited both facilities under operation and recently completed installations that are at the contracting stage of an economic operator that will manage the service.

A special topic of discussion was focused on the need for cooperation at the Chapter on identification and approval of regional landfill site, which would further boost the activities for the development of the Feasibility Study and environmental impact assessment of the new waste management system in waste management Zone 2 in North Development Region.

At the end of study visit in Bucharest, was held a summarizing session where were recapitulated the information provided during the visits in the three counties and were emphasized similarities between integrated management systems visited and integrated waste management system which is proposed for waste management Zone 2 of the North Development Region (Ocnita, Donduseni, Edinet and Briceni rayons).

At the summarizing meeting were invited representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of Romania and the ECO ROM Ambalaje, who spoke about the organization and operation of packaging waste collection system in Romania.

The project ‘Modernization of local public services in the Republic of Moldova’ is implemented by the German Development Cooperation through GIZ and is financially supported by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania and the European Union.