Romania, one of Europe's back doors for illegal refrigerants, is planning an anti-smuggling policy with consultants previously involved in smuggling. Refrigerants, toxic chemicals under harsh EU control, are supposed to be phased out of the EU markets by European countries by 2050.
However, the investigation reveals a cross-border refrigerant smuggling network that has been operating on the Turkey-EU route for years. Today, the smugglers run a syndicate that supplies customs with testing technology to detect their imports. Worse still, the Romanian state has managed to become a major polluter rather than a recycler of toxic refrigerants, while subsidising National Recycling Programmes for cars and electronics filled with these polluting chemicals.
Photo by Robert Obert
