Oradea Citizens Face Increased Sanitation Fees Starting in May

Starting from May, the people of Oradea pay more for the sanitary service. The Oradea City Hall has introduced the new circular economy fee into the sanitation fee, which applies to all waste that is not used and doubled from 1 January 2024.

Therefore, even if the rates of waste collection and transport imposed by the RER West have not changed, the residents of Oradea will pay more.

Treatment has become more expensive

The circular economy contribution (CEC) is a tax introduced by the Waste Law to encourage recycling and reduce the amount of waste stored. Concretely, it applies to every ton of waste that was not recovered, but ended up in the waste dump. From 80 lei per ton of waste, as it was until the end of last year, this tax reached, from January 1, to 160 lei / ton.

The value of CEC also affects the costs of waste treatment, that is, sorting and recovering as much of it as possible. Waste that cannot, after treatment, be recycled or composted, such as hazardous recyclable waste or plastic materials that end up in the biodegradable fraction, end up in landfill.

For this reason, the two companies responsible for waste treatment in the county, Eco Bihor (administrator of the county’s waste deposit) and Girexim Universal (mechanical-biological treatment station) have changed their own standards, ‘ affect the amount paid by end customers, ie by citizens.

No change on RER West

The changes to sanitary fees, approved by Ecolect (association to all county town halls, on sanitary matters) also confirmed by another factor: the reduction in the amount of recyclable waste, the effect of the guarantee-return system for beverage packaging, which increased the costs of the packaging waste recycling station.

The new sanitation fees in Oradea are only the increases for waste treatment, not those for collection and transport, provided by RER Vest. The sanitation operator did not increase sanitation costs at all, with the bills being affected only from parts related to waste treatment and management once it has left the RER Vest trucks.

The new levels

For Oradea residents in apartment blocks, the sanitation fee, starting from May, will be 20.45 lei / person / month, including VAT, an increase of 8.5%, compared to 18 lei, what it has cost them so far.

For residents of Oradea at home, the new rates are as follows: 108.95 lei / m3 for biodegradable waste (brown bin) compared to 59.10 lei, as it was until now, and 58.04 lei / m3 for recycled materials, compared to 51.41 lei. For residual waste (black bin) collected from citizens, the new rate is 63.55 lei / m3.

This means that emptying a waste bin (black) starts from 4.54 lei (60 litres) and reaches 18.15 lei (240 litres), including VAT, and emptying a brown bin (biodegradable ) and a volume of 60 liters now costs 7.78 lei. A brown bin with double volume has an empty price of 15.56 lei, and the 240-liter – 31.12 lei.

How much do recyclables cost?

For recyclables, Oradea residents who threw them in the yellow and blue bags will pay from now on 27.63 lei / month, VAT included, and those who chose to collect in containers will pay for a bin 60-liter vacuum, whether contains glass, paper-card or metal-plastic, 4.14 lei. A 120 liter bin with recyclables costs 8.29 lei, and one with a double volume – 16.58 lei.

For companies, the new sanitary tariffs are 486 lei/ton for residual waste, 433.86 lei/ton for biodegradable waste and 501.76 lei/ton for recyclable waste.

In terms of institutions, the prices are even higher: 507.57 lei / ton of recyclable waste, 513.87 lei / ton of biodegradable waste, respectively 483 lei / ton for residual waste.

The increase in ZMO

At the same time as the price changes in the city, Ecolect Bihor changed the fees in Metropolitan Area 1B, also served by RER West. There, the changes are also for the benefit of the citizens.

For individuals, the subscription containing a 60-liter black bin went from 22.55 lei to 23.82 lei, for 120 liters it decreased from 27.39 lei to 27.31 lei, and for 240 liters it was reduced by more than 3 lei and reached 34,29 lei (All prices include VAT).

And the rates for additional collection have decreased: the collection of a 60-liter bin costs 3.49 lei from now on, the emptying of a 120-liter bin is 6.98 lei, and 240-liter – 13.97 lei.

For the rest of the county, Ecolect chose not to increase the rates, but to change the frequency of waste collection, another way to compensate for the increased costs. Cleanliness has a price…