Bucharest garbage, a 75 million-euro business

The general conviction according to which Bucharest is a city doomed to end in dirt is starting to fade. As garbage in the Capital has shifted to capitalism, following the break of Rebu’s monopoly in November 1999, it did not only help the city but even the company, which started making profit last year.

“It’s a little bit cleaner. Compared with the previous years. But they could do better than this. There has to be more involvement from us and from them, as well,” says Marcela, 26.

“If we look down we see there’s still some dirt. It’s true the city is not as dirty as it used to be, but it still is, though. They (City Hall and sanitation companies) show more concern, one cannot but see that. However, people do not care about cleanliness that much and keep dropping all sorts of things,” says Sorin Zana, 56, who sells merchandise in Piata Amzei.

The “capitalist” garbage market is split among four companies: Rebu (1st, 4th, 5th districts), SuperCom (2nd district), Rosal (3rd district) and Urban (6th district).

The four companies derive their income from the Bucharest City Hall for cleaning the main streets and part of the secondary ones, on the one hand and companies, natural persons and dwellers’ associations on the other.

“Whoever takes care of the street cleaning is losing money, whoever takes care of household cleaning makes profit. Although REBU pays for others’ faults, we’ve managed to make it profitable,” says Cezar Preda, SC REBU SA Bucharest general manager.

The “cream of the crop” on the garbage market, that is collecting household debris, has attracted unauthorised players on the market, as well. “There are companies selecting dwellers’ associations, which pay their bills on time, and pitch them with separate contracts stipulating dumping prices, one third lower than the normal tariffs,” says Gheorghe Faciu, SuperCom executive manager.

The biggest problem Bucharest has is the dust, though. “Dust has been a problem in Bucharest ever since they started running massive construction programmes in the Capital, before 1989. Part of it comes from construction yards, part from concrete mixers, but also from industrial areas, from the factories which have installed no ecological filters yet,” Rebu general manager explains.

The Bucharest sanitation operators market is a complete chaos, as its stability is only apparent, which is verified by the active “black market” in the street sanitation sector. The black market gets 30% of the street tariffs, according to Cezar Preda.

“Studies show a sanitation operator can efficiently meet the needs of about 800,000-1,000,000 people. Whereas in other cities the size of Bucharest there are only two sanitation companies (i.e. Milan) or three (Barcelona), the Capital should not have more than four operators, while the province cities should have only one,” Preda added.