site.btaUPDATED Landfilling in Sofia to Drop Below 10%, Mayor Terziev Says

Speaking to reporters in Sofia’s waste treatment plant (WTP) on Tuesday, Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev said that the share of landfilled waste in the WTP will drop to less than 10% when the new contracts for the recovery of RDF (refuse-derived fuel) are signed. Visiting the WTP, Terziev gave a news conference on-site, alongside Nikolay Savov, the acting CEO of the municipal waste processing plant, and Ivaylo Ganev of the Technical University of Sofia, who earlier inspected the plant’s facilities.

The waste sorting plant is expected to recycle 90% of the waste that is brought in, and landfill 10% but in reality, it recycles 10% and landfills some 90%. In January, following an audit, WTP's new management said that the plant is not doing its job and there is a potential risk that, if urgent action is not taken, Sofia could experience a waste crisis in the next three years.

"When we mentioned our plans to get landfill down from 90% […] to under 10% by the end of this year [2024], we were criticized that it cannot be done. By signing the new RDF recovery contracts, which is expected in the coming days, we will drop [landfilling] below 10%, which is significantly cheaper for the city than before", Terziev said.

The mayor of Sofia explained that there was a public procurement contract for recycling 40% of the total RDF that was worth BGN 26 million, but it was never implemented. "At the moment, contracts for the entire amount, for 100% of the waste, are being signed at a price of BGN 22 million, so we will achieve [a price level] per ton of RDF [that is] over 50 to 60% lower," Terziev explained.

"We have achieved quite good results with the new contracts for recyclables, and the prices we will sell [those] at are 55-60% to 300-400% higher than before, Terziev said, adding that when one creates fairer tender conditions, more companies are interested in bidding, meaning that there is more competition and better prices.

Terziev also assured that control at the plant’s entrance has been strengthened. In recent months, the Sofia Inspectorate has imposed multiply higher fines, between eight and nine times higher, on garbage haulers, he noted.

The mayor recalled that by 2025 there will be 10,000 containers for separate waste collection in Sofia, with the aim of separating and collecting waste properly right at the place where it is generated, and not on-site at the plant, where it is more difficult and expensive.

Sofia’s WTP CEO Nikolay Savov said that between January 2023 and September 2023, the plant has landfilled a total of 73,070 tonnes of waste, and since the beginning of 2024, a total of 4,884 tonnes have been landfilled. In 2024, some 453,000 tonnes of waste are expected to be processed, including some 1,500 to 2,000 tonnes which will be landfilled. The share of landfilled waste is expected to fall below 10% by the end of the year, Savov said. He added that revenues from recyclables between July 15 and September 1, 2023 totalled some BGN 26,000. In comparison, for the same period of 2024, revenues totalled BGN 367,000.

Ivaylo Ganev of the Technical University of Sofia, who inspected the plant's facilities, underscored that the plant has been in operation for about 10 years now and no repairs or upgrades have been made during that period. This reduces the plant’s possibility of producing RDF. The inspection has also identified the poor quality of the RDF produced and the extremely poor condition of the WTP’s ventilation and dust extraction systems. New fine particulate separation and filtration systems must be installed, Ganev warned.

Savov said that Ganev and his team have drafted instructions for smooth garbage collection and waste treatment, which are followed by the plant’s workers.