
BUCHAREST - Toxic chemical smuggling flourished on Romania's borders while the country struggled to become a member of the Schengen area.
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
PUBLICATIONS
- Samsarii de frig. România, poartă de intrare a freonului ilegal în UE, în timp ce autoritățile fac strategii de combatere chiar cu trații, Snoop, 14/06/2024
- The Middle-Men of the Freon Black Market. The More the World Melts, the Bigger the Cold Business Grows, Snoop, 22/07/2024
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Das schmutzige Geschäft mit der kühlen Luft, Dossier, 11/12/2024
REPUBLISHED
- Freonul negru și samsarii. Afacerea ”frigului” și traseul tonelor de freon care intră ilegal în România, Botosani, 14/06/2024
- Marea afacere a căldurii: Urmăriri ca-n filme între poliție și contrabandiștii de freon, HotNews, 23/06/2024
- „Pe piața neagră, încărcătura costă aproape 20.000 euro”. Noi ne topim de căldură, samsarii de freon se îmbogățesc, HotNews, 24/06/2024
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Freonul negru și samsarii: Afacerea frigului prosperă în România, poarta de intrare a freonului ilegal în UE, Puterea, 11/07/2024
IMPACT AND FOLLOW-UP
- Listed as a "must read" investigation by one of the most important journalism related organisations in Romania -- Friends for Friends Foundation, organiser of SuperScrieri Galas, the most important prize for Romanian journalists.
COUNTRIES
- Austria
- Romania
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