Article by Mihaela Lupu, volunteer within GIL Bacău.
I have often wondered how waste management is done in Bacau, how waste is collected in other areas, but also what fractions we collect. After searching on the internet and making requests under Law 544/2001 on free access to information of public interest, we found the answers to our questions.
Who is in charge of waste management?
The delegated sanitation operator in charge of waste collection in Bacau is Soma Bacau. They are responsible for the collection and transportation of household and recyclable waste in the municipality of Bacău and neighboring or adjacent areas of the county.
On their website you can find collection days by area, information about what they collect and when they collect, and you can also find a link to their app on Google Play and Appstore https://somabacau.ro/ . Soma also have their Facebook page where they post about their campaigns including in schools and local authorities https://www.facebook.com/somasalubrizarebacau .
What is the requency of collection and under what criteria?
One of the first things we discovered is that the municipality collects residual waste on a daily basis, i.e. waste that could not be collected in either recyclable or biodegradable waste. For residual waste we use the black/metallic bin.
When it comes to cardboard, plastic and metal the collection is done as follows
– Monday – Republicii, Izvoare and Tache
– Tuesday – Cornișa and Milcov
– Wednesday – Bistrita Lake, Centre, Mioriței and Station
– Thursday – Stefan cel Mare and CFR
– Friday – Gherăiești and Șerbănești
For the block area (public platforms) we use the yellow bin for Plastic and Metal and the blue bin for Paper and Cardboard.
For the area of houses where door-to-door collection takes place we use yellow for Plastic, Metal, Paper and Cardboard.
And for glass, collection is done according to the weeks of the month from the green bin.
– on the 1st week of the month, Saturday -Republics
– in the 2nd week of the month, Saturday -Cornișa and Milcov
– in week 3 of the month, Saturday – Bistrita Lake and Centre
– in the 4th week of the month, Saturday – Stephen the Great and Mioriței
When we talk about individual dwellings (housing area), residual waste is collected once a week and recyclables are collected twice a month. Bacău City Hall also mentioned that in these areas of houses, the collection of recyclable waste is done in a mixture and is then separated at the sorting stations.
What is the collection method in the municipality and what criteria are used?
Collection is done with separate machines, depending on the fraction collected, i.e. once a month for glass, once a week for cardboard, plastic and metal, and daily for residual waste.
For many people from Bacaú, Gherăiești Park is a place of recreation and gathering, which comes with a lot of waste, so we wanted to see how often waste is collected from Gherăiești Park.
From the information received, the 3 areas (at the barbecues, near the playground/stage and the tennis court) are areas that fall into the category of public platforms located throughout the municipality of Bacau, and waste is collected every day.
What do you think, do you consider that the collection frequency is respected or is it sufficient for the municipality of Bacau?
The project is run by the Romanian Academic Society in partnership with Act For Tomorrow Association and Vellenes Fellesorganisasjon with the financial support of Active Citizens Fund Romania, a programme funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through EEA Grants 2014-2021. The aim of the project is to increase the capacity for mobilization and civic engagement, especially among young people, by developing a set of monitoring and advocacy methods and tools to improve the quality of public transport, education and waste management services provided by local public administrations in urban areas.
The project is implemented by The Romanian Academic Society in partnership with the Act For Tomorrow Association and Vellenes Fellesorganisasjon and benefits from a 249.989 euros grant from Active Citizens Fund Romania, funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants Grants 2014 -2021. The content of this website does not necessarily reflect the official position of the EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021; for more information, visit www.eeagrants.org. More details about Active Citizens Fund Romania are available at www.activecitizensfund.ro.