site.btaМunicipal Waste Management in Bulgaria Needs Reform, For the Earth NGO Says

For the Earth non-governmental organization published a report, claiming that there are serious issues with official data on municipal waste management in Bulgaria and showing the need for a deep reform of the existing system. For the Earth argues that there is a discrepancy between the data on marketed packaging reported by packaging waste recovery organizations and the same data aggregated at national level.

According to the analysis, while Bulgaria claims to have achieved 61.4% recovery of packaging waste at a national level, in half of the Bulgarian municipalities the recycling rates of plastic, metal, paper and glass are below 10%, and 43 other municipalities do not recycle their waste at all. Such parallel realities exist because of significant statistical discrepancies combined with inadequate minimum legal requirements for packaging waste recovery organizations, For the Earth's report warns.

While in its official reports to Eurostat, Bulgaria claims to have achieved a higher recycling rate of plastic packaging waste than the EU average, it turns out that in half of Bulgarian municipalities the reuse and recycling rate of municipal waste is below 10%, according to 2019 data, For the Earth explained.

Meanwhile, 1.2% of Bulgaria’s all public spending in 2022 went on waste management, almost double the EU average, the report further said. For the Earth considers Bulgaria’s waste recovery rate unsatisfactory. The organization cited Eurostat data, commenting that the proportion of recycled materials returned to the economy in 2022 in Bulgaria was 4.8%, compared to an EU average of 11.5%.