Interestingly, the year before, this system registered 372,400 tons of waste, 63% more than in 2024 and 41% more than in 2022.
Such “swings” are due to periodic problems in the country’s agriculture, both in the production and processing segments. In addition, household waste generation by the population is growing annually.
What are the sources of waste generation and its structure? How much of it can be simply collected, let alone recycled or utilized? We will try to answer these questions.
What is SIA MD
“Waste management is critical given the significant impact it has on the environment and public health. The rapid growth in waste is closely linked to the level of consumption, which is increasing due to rising living standards and economic development. Thus, it becomes paramount for the authorities to provide reliable information on the current waste management situation. Lack of reliable information can lead to ineffective waste management measures, with devastating consequences for biodiversity, water and air quality, and climate change,” the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a policy brief.
In the Republic of Moldova, the automated waste management information system (SIA MD), which is administered by the EPA, should respond to these challenges by providing a tool that integrates various aspects, from authorization of activities related to waste management to reporting on the results obtained in this field.
The information available in this system is provided by enterprises in the course of their activities during the calendar year related to waste management (generation, collection, treatment or disposal).
Companies declare the volumes of waste generated during the year, and the system also allows the deduction of waste volumes from households based on reports prepared by services that report on municipal waste produced by the population and collected by these organizations.
As a result, based on the data provided by enterprises, the Environmental Protection Agency summarized and presented statistical information on waste management for the year 2024.
Agriculture is the leader
Why is only 2024 data available at the start of 2026?
As the EPA explained for Logos Press, the agency has just three employees collecting and processing data from 11,000 businesses.
According to SIA MD, approximately 69% of the total waste generated in 2024, equivalent to 134,500 tons, comes from the agricultural and food processing sector. This high proportion reflects the economic structure of the country, where the agribusiness sector plays an important role in terms of number of businesses and contribution to waste generation.
Almost half of this waste, 61.6 thousand tons, was generated by the agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, forestry, hunting and fishing sectors.
In 2023, the main load, 190.7 thousand tons, came from companies specializing in the processing of fruits, vegetables, cereals and vegetable oils. In 2024, they reported only 35.4 thousand tons, which is more than 5 times less, indicating a crisis situation in this sector of the economy.
Also the main industrial wastes in 2024 included:
– in the production of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages – 15.5 thousand tons;
– as a result of sugar processing – 14.4 thousand tons;
– waste from sewage treatment facilities – 10.8 thousand tons;
– in the process of preparation and processing of meat, fish and other products of animal origin – 7.43 thousand tons;
– from thermal processes – 7.2 thousand tons;
– in metallurgical industry – 6.6 thousand tons;
– packaging and packaging waste; absorbent materials, polishing materials, filtering materials and protective clothing – 5.2 thousand tons;
– woodworking and panel and furniture production wastes, pulp, paper and cardboard – 1.6 thousand tons;
– construction and dismantling waste (including excavated land from contaminated sites) – 3.5 thousand tons. Mainly metals and alloys – 2.3 thousand tons;
– end-of-life vehicles – 2.2 thousand tons;
– in leather, fur and textile industry – 1.2 thousand tons;
– medical waste – 732 thousand tons.
Another most important category is municipal waste (household waste and similar waste from trade, industry and institutions), including waste collected separately. In 2024, they were generated only 59.2 thousand tons, including 5.1 thousand tons collected separately, or less than 10%.
It is interesting that a year earlier in Moldova the population threw 56.2 thousand tons of municipal waste to landfills, or 3 thousand tons less, i.e. this indicator is growing quite rapidly.
Not everything was collected
According to the SIA MD system, in 2024 a total of 52.4 thousand tons of waste from agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, forestry, hunting and fishing, as well as from food preparation and processing was collected. This includes processing of fruits, vegetables, cereals and vegetable oils, production of sugar, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, meat products, etc.
That is, more than half of this waste is left on the territory of the country in unequipped places where it decomposes, polluting the land, air and water.
The situation is about the same (and even worse) in other categories. So, the authorities have a lot to work on in terms of waste management and improvement of Moldova’s environment.
