The second study visit of the SMART WASTE project, organised by BAMEE, took partners to Sofia and focused on "Waste Management Systems in Bulgaria – progress and future". Thanks to this hybrid study visit, the SMART WASTE partners get a detailed insight into good practices & projects on innovation in waste management developed in Bulgaria.

Nikolay Sidzhimov, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, Directorate Waste and Air Quality  and Stefan Alexandrov – Senior Expert at this Directorate opened the meeting, welcoming participants and offering an overview of the National Waste Management Plan and Program Environment 2021 – 2028.

Next, participants discovered good practices in waste management from three Bulgarian municipalities, Zlatograd, Burgas, and Sofia. Zlatograd explained its separate door-to-door waste collection system and support for improvement of waste management system. Burgas detailed its integrated waste management system. Sofia presented two practices: how it prevents urban pollution through separate waste collection and the NO Waste platform that guides households for a better separate collection of their waste. This session enabled partners to better understand the smart waste models implemented in Bulgaria.

Two of the project partners, namely ARRR, Tuscany,  and KRWMC, Klaipeda, Lithuania, had the opportunity to discuss with the Mayor of Zlatograd Municipality and the Waste Management expert at Burgas Municipality about their challenges and success stories. They discussed how these good practices are inspiring for the development of their action plans.

Presentations are available on the event page.

Photo by Natalya Letunova on Unsplash