Statement by the Minister of Environment and Water Asen Lichev in relation to the National Waste Management Plan for the period 2021-2028 adopted by the government

I am proud to be a member of the caretaker government and I thank the Prime Minister and my fellow ministers for adopting a strategic document covering an eight-year period. This is the National Waste Management Plan (NWMP) for the period 2021-2028, which has 3 main goals: firstly, to create conditions for reducing generated waste; secondly, to create conditions for the transition to a circular economy, i.e. management that ensures the effective use of waste as a resource; and thirdly, as an extremely serious task, to reach 55% recycled amount of the entire municipal waste by 2025.

In this respect, the adopted plan has the following financial dimensions: the total planned funds amount to 1.428 billion BGN. The investment measures mainly include the construction of infrastructure for waste pre-treatment for landfilling and treatment of biodegradable waste. Funds are provided for the expansion of the systems for separate waste collection. For the completion of regional waste management systems 260 million BGN are foreseen, for construction of waste recycling plants through financial instruments - 40 million BGN, for construction of new and expansion of existing systems for separate collection of municipal waste - 145 million BGN, for preparation and implementation of projects for closure and reclamation of municipal landfills for household waste - 100 million BGN, for construction of landfills or additional cells for municipal waste - 174 million BGN.

With the adopted National Waste Management Plan, Bulgaria will have a solid argument for responding to the ongoing infringement procedure. Moreover, the plan contains mechanisms for flexible determination of the regime of waste imports, including imports for incineration on our territory. This will depend on the available national balance on the territory of Bulgaria.

I have an appeal to make to all our compatriots - it is not enough to have a National Waste Management Plan for the period 2021-2028. A key role in achieving results will be played by the personal waste management plans for the same period of each member of our society.