Three More Sofia Districts Left Without Rubbish Collection Service

From today, December 1, three additional districts in Sofia – Slatina, Izgrev, and Poduyane – are left without a waste collection company.

The disruption comes after the contract with the previous service provider expired, and the new public procurement process has been delayed due to an appeal before the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC).

The Sofia Municipality has put a temporary waste collection plan in place.

In the first hours without a collection service, both full and empty household waste containers were reported across the three districts.

Emil, a resident of Slatina, said: “I’ve noticed the bins are a bit fuller than usual. This morning, there’s definitely a difference.”

Milena added: “They’ve been overflowing since yesterday, but this was known before the contract expired. They had time to prepare. It’s not something unexpected – a solution needs to be found, especially as we are in the EU and should show European standards.”

The city authorities emphasised that a strict plan has been implemented to prevent chaos.

Nadezhda Bobcheva, Deputy Mayor for Ecology, said: “We have five large and six small waste collection trucks in operation today. We are working to expand our own capacity, and this week we expect six additional machines. We need to decide whether to launch a new public procurement process or continue using our own resources – those are the two options available to us.”

Georgi Iliev, Mayor of Slatina, added: “We have three trucks in Slatina, plus two additional small ones. The Municipal Council has approved funding for two more in each district. We also have funds from the municipality to purchase new vehicles.”

Kristiyan Hristov, Mayor of Poduyane, said: “We held meetings with local businesses and residents in all neighbourhoods, informing citizens how they can help. We are asking people not to dispose of bulky waste over the next two weeks and to separate recyclables where possible.”

The municipal waste treatment plant will handle collection in the three districts.

Nikolay Savov, Director of the Sofia Waste Treatment Enterprise, said: “We need to complete 18 collection runs daily with the equipment we have, which is entirely feasible. If necessary, we can operate in three shifts.”

The Sofia Inspectorate will monitor compliance and irregularities.

From today, the municipal company Sofecstroy will also take over full waste collection in Krasno Selo and Lyulin.