Illegal waste disposal site found near Yagodovo village, Southern Bulgaria

Not a rubbish tip, but an illegal waste disposal site was found near the village of Yagodovo (Plovdiv District, Southern Bulgaria), where tonnes of rubbish were discovered a week ago, Plovdiv District Governor Danni Kanazireva said on February 10. According to her, the illegal landfill has been in operation for years. The district administration will today refer to the Prosecutor's office and the police for the case.

The illegal landfill is located on agricultural land of 40 decares. It covers 5 private and one municipal property, the check of the district administration showed.

Danny Kanazireva, District Governor: On one hand, ther is illegal extraction of aggregates, which resulted in 5 to 6 metres deep pits with a total area of 40 decares. At present, the pits are filled with layers of waste, with sections each of 4-5 decares in size.

The district authorities have also found that charges have been taken for the waste disposal, causing losses to the state to the amount of millions of BGN. Scales for weighing the waste have been discovered at the site.

Danny Kanazireva: A fee of 110 BGN is paid per tonne for the disposal of one tonne of waste in the landfill of Tsalapitsa, and here someone collects fees without having any authorisation for that.

Already four years ago, the regional eco-Inspectorate received reports of unregulated extraction of aggregates on the land of Yagodovo. A representative of the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water explained tha all documentation has been sent to the Plovdiv District Prosecutor's Office and the decision of the District Prosecutor's Office was to terminate the proceedings.

According to initial data, the owner of the property in Yagodovo has relation to the landfilled waste with labels from Spain, which was found near the village of Katunitsa last week.