Romania ranked 28th in the European Dashboard in 2018 regarding innovation, its score being 14 percentage points lower than in 2010. In the Dashboard on eco-innovation, Romania ranked 23rd, with 65 points, in 2017, and ranked 24th, with 66 points, in 2018. It is well below the overall average score of the EU-28 and is part of the category of countries that are bridging the gap in terms of eco-innovation.
Waste management remains a key challenge for Romania. The country’s performance continues to be characterised by very low recycling of municipal waste (14%, including 7% material recycling and 7% composting) and very high landfilling rates. This is contrary to the waste hierarchy and comes in spite of the recycling targets set at EU level. Moreover, recycling rates have been stagnating since 2013, while the incineration rate has increased slightly to 4%. The landfill rate reported by Romania to the European Commission in 2017 was 70%. However, the figure does not include the temporary storage prior to disposal, which, if added, would increase this rate further.
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