The solid waste management system in Romania is
discussed considering 2 dimensions: a ten years timeline
(2004–2013) and the social, economic and environmental
context that give the complex image of this country in
terms of sustainability. The selected period reflects 3 distinct
stages of the country: the pre-accession years (2004–2006)
when Romania was a candidate to the EU membership;
the membership year (2007) when the country became a
full member of the EU correlated with the adoption of
the EU legislation in all areas and particularly the solid
waste management field; the following period, that can be
considered as the implementation period (2008–2013). In this
last period the legislation, policies, strategies and all the
instruments related to the solid waste management were
enforced (as it may be observed in Table 1).