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selectionProcedure for the selection and evaluation of WEEE collection and treatment service providers

Context – Description of the Environ Association

The Environ Association is a non-governmental and non-profit organization established in 2007, whose main activity is taking over the responsibility of producers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment by ensuring the collection and recycling of these products at the end of their life cycle.

As a collective organization licensed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Environ Association, through its authorized economic partners, ensures the stability and traceability of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) management processes: collection, transportation, storage, treatment, recycling, recovery, and environmentally safe disposal, in accordance with the provisions of Annex No. 5, letter (ș) of Government Emergency Ordinance No. 5/2015, which regulates the definition of a collective organization, namely:

  • collective organization – an economic operator established in accordance with the provisions of Article 1 paragraph (1) of the Companies Law No. 31/1990, republished, with subsequent amendments and completions, or (…), authorized by the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests according to the provisions of Article 25 paragraph (1) of the Government Emergency Ordinance No. 5/2015 on waste electrical and electronic equipment and whose sole activity is the assumption and fulfillment of producers’ obligations regarding the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment, or of authorized representatives acting on behalf of producers with respect to WEEE management.

Purpose of the Procedure

The procedure aims to establish the selection criteria for service providers from a qualitative, quantitative, and commercial point of view and applies to operators authorized for the management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), specifically for the collection, transportation, and treatment of such waste; to waste brokers or traders, whether existing or potential suppliers of the Environ Association.

The Environ Association constantly monitors the degree of achievement of its annual WEEE collection, recycling, and recovery objectives and periodically performs an analysis of existing suppliers and the quantities managed through them.

Collaboration with potential new suppliers is considered both when it is necessary to supplement the quantities of WEEE managed through existing suppliers, when a strategic value is identified that contributes to the Environ collection and treatment infrastructure, and when potential commercial advantages are identified regarding WEEE management costs.

Potential suppliers are either identified and approached directly by Environ or may initiate contact themselves by submitting an expression of interest and a commercial offer.

This procedure is not part of the contractual documentation and is limited to the pre-contractual evaluation and/or the assessment of operators during the contract execution period. Both potential and existing suppliers are encouraged to carefully read this procedure, confirming their intention to proceed in the selection process only by fully accepting the conditions described herein.

Reference Legislation in the Field

DEFINITIONS (according to Government Emergency Ordinance No. 92/2021)

Collector – any enterprise/economic operator that carries out an authorized collection activity and acts on its own behalf for gathering waste from third parties for transportation to a treatment facility;

Broker – any enterprise that arranges the recovery or disposal of waste on behalf of other persons, including brokers who do not take physical possession of the waste;

Trader – any enterprise that acts on its own behalf to purchase and subsequently sell waste, including traders who do not take physical possession of the waste;

Waste management – the collection, transportation, recovery (including sorting), and disposal of waste, including the supervision of such operations and the maintenance of disposal sites afterward, as well as actions undertaken in the capacity of trader or broker;

Collection – the gathering of waste, including the preliminary sorting and storage of waste, for transportation to a treatment facility;

Treatment – recovery or disposal operations, including preliminary preparation prior to recovery or disposal;

Recovery – any operation whose principal result is that the waste serves a useful purpose by replacing other materials that would otherwise have been used for a particular function, or that the waste is prepared to fulfill that function in the plant or the economy in general;

Recycling – any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials, or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic materials but does not include energy recovery or the reprocessing into materials to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations;

Disposal – any operation which is not a recovery operation even where the operation has as a secondary consequence the reclamation of substances or energy;

Traceability – the characteristic of a system that allows the retrieval of the history, use, or location of waste through recorded identification;

Waste audit – a systematic, documented, periodic, and objective evaluation of the performance of the waste management system and processes, aimed at facilitating control over waste management and recovery operations, as well as assessing compliance with environmental policies, including goal achievement, performance in waste prevention and reduction, and efforts to minimize the hazardous nature of waste generated;

Service provider – a company that provides services, rather than goods, to other businesses. Within the scope of this procedure, this term refers to a waste broker/trader or an operator authorized for the collection, transport, treatment, or preparation for reuse of WEEE.

Flows and Description of the Initial Evaluation Process

  • New/Potential Suppliers – Required Documents:
    • Environmental authorization;
    • Copy of the company registration certificate (CUI);
    • Copy of the administrator’s ID;
    • Certificate of fiscal attestation regarding obligations to the Environmental Fund;
    • Criminal record certificate of the company and of the administrator;
    • Certificate of compliance with CENELEC 50625 standards, if available (mandatory starting May 2026), obtained through an accredited certification body.
    • After verifying and validating the requested documents, an ENVIRON representative performs one or more on-site visits, depending on the operator’s capacity, during which:
  • they evaluate the operator’s site and verify whether the location and equipment correspond to those listed in the environmental authorization, and whether the operator holds and maintains the appropriate authorization conditions for carrying out collection and/or treatment activities;
  • they assess whether the operator has the infrastructure and capacity to collect and/or treat the maximum quantity authorized in the environmental permit;
  • they verify the number of employees, their employment status, valid occupational safety (SSM) training, and the availability of proper equipment for each employee;
  • they inspect the fire safety equipment, placement, quantity, and validity;
  • they verify the fire evacuation plan;
  • they inspect the labeling and storage of waste;
  • they verify the secured entry–exit register, its physical presence at the work site, and proper record-keeping;
  • the existence of a procedures manual and detailed process descriptions represents an added value for the operator, as does having an IT system ensuring transparency, traceability, and up-to-date WEEE management records.

The details above are monitored using a supplier evaluation form. Based on the findings, an optimal timeframe for remedying any identified nonconformities is agreed upon with the operator.

The evaluation form is used and updated during each waste audit or operational audit conducted by ENVIRON staff or third-party representatives.

Following the analysis of the evaluation form and after the remediation period for any identified nonconformities, a decision is made whether to continue or terminate the supplier selection process. In the event of continuation, draft contracts for collection and/or treatment services are sent to the operator.

  • For existing suppliers, the following evaluations are carried out:
  1. Annually, the following document updates are requested:
  • Environmental authorization (if revised) or annual endorsement;
  • Certificate of fiscal attestation regarding obligations to the Environmental Fund;
  • Criminal record certificate of the company and of the administrator;
  • Certificate of compliance with CENELEC 50625 standards, if available (mandatory starting May 2026), obtained through an accredited certification body;
  • Copy of the administrator’s ID if changed or expired;
  • Copy of the ID of the person responsible for communication with ENVIRON, if different from the administrator;
  1. In the evaluation form, the operator’s performance is tracked throughout the year, based on on-site visit reports, transparency level, responsiveness to ENVIRON’s requests, and compliance with deadlines set out in Annex 2 of the collection contracts;
  1. On-site visit reports are prepared for each supervision visit carried out by ENVIRON representatives at the WEEE collection/treatment supplier’s location. Visits are performed unannounced, with a frequency determined by ENVIRON — at least weekly, monthly, or quarterly. The operator is obliged to allow access to ENVIRON representatives without imposing conditions or reasons that might prevent supervision visits.
  1. Semiannually, stock confirmations of WEEE fractions and waste quantities recorded in ENVIRON’s management sheets are carried out through inventory checks during unannounced visits.