Main issues related to the construction and demolition waste management in Romania

The risk of environmental pollution is a real problem, as humanity is alarmingly close to the moment of environment degradation irreversibility. An important contribution to environment pollution is construction and demolition waste. Romania, and particularly big Romanian cities, are facing asphalt works, changing curbs, residential construction/renewal, chaotic urban development and construction and demolition debris that cannot be ignored any longer and thrown away on the wayside. According to The Romanian National Institute of Statistics, in 2006 the amount of municipal waste collected by the salubrity companies in Romania was about 6.8 mil. tonnes, out of which 6.96% represents construction and demolition waste. The amount seems lower than the European average (25-30%) because the construction companies are developing their activity on sites all over the country and do not have a centralised waste record. On the other hand, construction and demolition waste is eliminated without being weighed on old landfills or free spaces. Following this observation a consortium of three universities (The Academy of Economic Studies, The Technical University of Civil Engineering and The University of Medical and Pharmaceutical Studies) and two research institutes (The Institute for Computers and The Institute of Prognosis) elaborated a research proposal that was accepted to be financed by The Romanian National Research Authority. The project has several goals. One of them is to create a database containing analytical forms for every material/equipment used in construction and demolition, which can be considered potential waste. Another goal would be to elaborate new solutions regarding waste storage in the urban environment, according to EU regulations and to develop a regional distribution map of the existent storage solutions and of the necessary ones at the moment of the analysis. The paper will reflect the research results of this project up to that point.