Regarding the post on Mr. Striblea's blog (link : http://www.striblea.ro/dezbaterea-pe-tema-gropii-de-gunoi-de-la-rudeni-statul-nu-stie-nimic/ )

We have read your communication following yesterday's meeting at APM Bucharest and we would like to let you know that we are following your concerns carefully.

It seems that the finding of the "Trojan Horse" at IRIDEX is completely false, including the lucubrations of Mr. Mayor Tudorache exposed in the publication of the City Hall of Sector 1, "Capitala Capitalei" - August 2016 issue, under the title: ,,19 polluting garbage dumps have been found on the outskirts of Sector 1", and we begin by responding, in this way, if we may, out of a desire to clarify the slanderous statements of the Mayor's Office of Sector 1, through its Mayor, which also contain answers to your concerns.

Thus, we would like to state the following:

IRIDEX GROUP has not developed,,Landfill"and waste treatment and disposal facilities!

We remain surprised that after numerous communications made by IRIDEX to the City Hall of Sector 1 and after years in the City Hall, Mr. Tudorache does not know one elementary thing, namely:

The Bucharest City Hall and the General Council of the Capital developed in this area the Landfill and the Integrated Waste Management Center, managed by IRIDEX GROUP IMPORT EXPORT - the winner of the international open tender held in 1999.

This Center and Depot was built precisely for the collection and disposal of waste from sectors 1 and 6, in order to avoid transportation throughout Bucharest to other areas. Each of the 2 sectors, as well as the surrounding areas, are served by such a Center.

Mr.Tudorache does not know that through the obligations of the Center we are also Partners of the City Hall of Sector 1, being a public-private partnership! We have not developed "on our own" but in accordance with the European legislation and targets that the City Halls have to fulfill in the waste management issue.

All reporting to the European Union on the achievement of targets in this area is carried out by the City Hall of Sector 1 through IRIDEX GROUP.

We are the only partner of the City Hall, all the others listed by Mr. Mayor are "businesses on their own", and the "care" of the City Hall of Sector 1 has led to their proliferation and to areas full of garbage around the sector.

Mayor Tudorache's claims are gratuitous and unfounded. No meter has shown H₂S exceedances in the IRIDEX warehouse area or at the boundary of its protection zone. All the measurements alluded to by Mr. Mayor Tudorache refer to odors measured and detected outside the protection zone near other sources or activities that may generate odors. All, but ALL the claims are false, unknowingly, gratuitous, just to gain "trust capital", but never, absolutely never, Mayor Tudorache did not go to IRIDEX Waste Management Center to see for themselves the activity there, to learn about the facilities that exist there and to confirm or deny citizens' complaints and, moreover, to order the eradication of those who have developed illegal activities there - such as illegal waste dumping and others.

Mayor Tudorache does another serious confusion: IRIDEX GROUP does not operate the Hazardous and Hospital Waste Incinerator and Sterilization Plant! But he hasn't visited them in operation either, to get a sense of the situation.

The only people from the Local Public Administration, who visited the site and were interested in what is happening at the IRIDEX Integrated Waste Management Center, were the USB representatives from the Local Council of the City Hall of Sector 1 - Mrs. Armand Clotilde Armand and Mr. Laurentiu Cristian Bufon. They have visited most of the installations, they noted their technicality and the absence of any odor.

To answer the constant questions people ask, we would like to answer :

The landfill is sealed at the bottom with a geomembrane that does not allow groundwater contamination - there are a number of wells for periodic groundwater monitoring. There is a living, active flora and fauna (fish/ducks etc.) in the discharge area !
Wastewater from the landfill head is captured in a drainage network and piped to the treatment plant.
The landfill gas is collected through wells, absorbed by vacuum and directed to combustion plants, where the H₂S content in it is destroyed. There are no H₂S emissions from the combustion (letter from the plant manufacturer submitted).
Storage areas are restricted and odors are eliminated in the protection zone (1 km).

Important to note:

The pond in which we discharge treated water, fish, birds live - the groundwater in our wells is not dangerous, but we specify that:
The distance between houses and the Warehouse has been substantially reduced by continuing to grant building permits in the Warehouse protection zone, citizens being duped literally! They should demand compensation from those who brought them to the area!
Many of the houses are built on old waste dumps (deposited before the CMID IRIDEX was put into operation, but also after) on top of which soil was put and there are gases in the basement, from the continuing fermentation process of waste, as well as infested water - in those times there was no geomembrane technique to protect groundwater and soil etc:
A large platform is being prepared in the area over the Giulești Sârbi landfill, to developing a new housing neighborhood! Here you go, it is located 250-300 m from the Warehouse! Those citizens will suffer for 10-20 years because of the waste under the topsoil. The same is happening in the southwest.

Those who really want to discover the sources of odors should turn to the State Authorities - National Environmental Guard, Environmental Protection Agency, Romanian Waters, INMH, competent and professional authorities.

In order to demonstrate our good faith, we are at your disposal with any information and we invite you to visit the site of our activity, together with a group of 4-5 representative people, who want to clarify the problem of odors and do not start from the premise that IRIDEX activity must be blocked at any cost.

Management IRIDEX GROUP

14/9/2016