SOFIA’S NEWLY BUILT WASTE PROCESSING PLANT OPENED

Sofia’s newly built plant for mechanical-biological treatment began operating on 14th of September.

Representatives of the Bulgarian government, Sofia's Mayor and senior officials of the European Commission cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony of one of the most-modern facilities for household waste processing not only on the Balkan Peninsula, but in Europe too.

214 million BGN have been invested in the construction of the plant.

The plant consists of 5 workshops where raw materials will be extracted from the waste and recyclable materials such as nylon, paper, plastics, glass, metal and aluminum will be produced. The residual product will be used for production of fuel which will be used by the heating utility, Toplofikatsia Sofia, for co-generation of energy. The sale of recycled materials is expected to bring revenues to Sofia municipality at the amount of approximately 2 million BGN per year.

The implementation of the next stage – the production of the so called Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) is expected to lead to approximately 10% reduction in the heating bills of the households.

To reach highest environmental standards, filters for dust particles have been installed and the off-gas will also be used.

Bulgaria’s EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said that the EC would provide further 200 million BGN for the building of the third stage of the plant.