Romania's packaging placed on market rises 2.67% in 2025, paper and wood lead

Romania placed 2.56 million tonnes of packaging on the market in 2025, up 2.67% from 2.50 million tonnes in 2024, according to an ECOTECA analysis of Administrația Fondului pentru Mediu (AFM) data. Paper-and-board and wood packaging accounted for 90.5% of the net increase, while plastic volumes were flat and glass declined slightly. Separately, AFM reported 521,927 tonnes of packaging waste recycled via extended-producer-responsibility operators (OIREP) in the first half of 2026.

Why this mattersA shift toward paper, board and wood over plastic and glass signals substrate substitution trends that could affect demand across Romania's converting and recycling supply chains.

• Total packaging placed on the Romanian market reached 2,564,353 tonnes in 2025, up 2.67% from 2,497,612 tonnes in 2024
• Paper and board packaging rose 3.95% to 806,566 tonnes, adding 30,613 tonnes
• Wood packaging rose 4.64% to 672,657 tonnes, adding 29,808 tonnes
• Paper-board and wood together drove 90.5% of the net market growth and made up 57.7% of total tonnage
• Plastic packaging was flat at 526,793 tonnes (+0.05%), with PET down 1.86% to 150,363 tonnes while metal packaging rose 8.32% to 75,211 tonnes and aluminium rose 5.77% to 33,718 tonnes
• OIREP operators recycled 521,927 tonnes of packaging waste in January-June 2026, led by paper-board (274,182 tonnes) and wood (102,848 tonnes)

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