Deputy environment minister Kostadin Geshev has reminded mayors that 60% of household waste must be prepared for recycling or reuse by 2030. The share must rise to 65% in 2035. The rule comes from the EU.
Geshev spoke to mayors at a forum called "Sustainable municipal systems and the move to the new household waste fee – first lessons and possible solutions". It was part of the Annual Meeting of Local Authorities in Albena. The new method for working out the waste fee follows the "polluter pays" rule.
The Environment programme is the main source of help for municipalities as they bring in the new model. It has €172m to build, expand and upgrade systems for separate collection and recycling of biodegradable waste. The money is for 236 municipalities in 48 regional associations.
The National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria (NSORB) runs a project on models for managing household waste. It has drawn up eight sample models based on the type of settlement and how built-up it is, and local authorities can use them. Geshev said one municipality may need several different solutions.
He said that at national level, officials need to know for each regional system how much waste is produced and what it is made of. It must also be clear what capacity is working, what is actually recycled and how much room is left in the landfill. This data should be the basis for a shared investment schedule, so decisions are made in time where landfills are filling up.
Every landfill expansion must be tied to specific steps to cut the waste that arrives, he said. Only a change in how rubbish is collected and treated can give a long-term answer, Geshev said.
He called for faster introduction of separate collection of food and garden waste, adapted to local conditions. Good places to start are restaurants, hotels, markets and schools, where amounts are easier to predict and the work is easier to organise. In areas with houses and yards there is room for home composting, but handing out bins must go together with training for people and checks on results.
Investment in facilities must go together with how collection is organised. A composting plant without separately collected bio-waste will not give the result that is needed.
Geshev urged mayors, when they prepare projects, to weigh up at the same time the construction, future running costs, staff needed, transport and what will happen to the materials produced. A municipality should know before it invests what the service will cost once the facility starts work.
He said centres for separate collection, for preparing items for reuse and for repair also need to grow. A piece of furniture, an appliance or another item that can be used after a check and repair is a saved resource and local jobs.
Small municipalities can act together by sharing equipment, common routes, mobile services and regional use of facilities.