Gradually, plastic boxes for fresh vegetables and fruits will disappear, followed by single-use containers from the hospitality industry, such as those used for shampoo or sauces. These are to be banned by January 1, 2030.

The owners of a guesthouse near Sibiu have already found a solution to replace small shampoo, conditioner and shower gel bottles. Wall-mounted containers that can be refilled are used instead.

Maria Lupu, guesthouse owner: "We were facing a situation where numerous empty containers were piling up, and we were unsure how to manage them".

Restaurants offering takeaway service are expected to allow customers to bring their own container for the ordered food. Currently, many establishments do not adopt this rule because they need to weigh the product for each type of container separately, and the waiting time would be much longer.

Laurențiu Suciu, restaurant operations manager: "It's quite difficult to bring a pot of soup when you only need one serving. We couldn't simply bring any container and place it in our kitchen".

Remus Gherghescu, restaurant administrator: "It's a very good idea, it also saves us some extra costs".

Moreover, restaurants, bars and cafes are anticipated to be incentivized to offer customers tap water, either for free or for a moderate cost.

A restaurant in Brașov has been doing this for over a year. On each table, guests find water for which they don't pay anything.

Cătălin Bogdan Pamfil, restaurant manager: "It helps us only from a marketing point of view, it brings more guests to our location. Financially, definitely not. Financially, definitely not".

Customer: "I've been to other cafes where I saw that you can serve yourself with water, for example. Few, admittedly, at this moment, but it's a trend that I've seen starting to emerge".

Through these measures, by 2035, plastic packaging should be reduced by 10% in the European Union. And by 2040, by 15%, according to the European Parliament.