New waste management legislation has been published in the State Gazette and came into force on 13 July 2012.
The Act implements the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC). This involves creating conditions for improving waste management in Bulgaria without risking damage to human health or the environment, as well as increasing volumes of recycled and recovered waste.
Bulgaria’s prolonged debate on the requirements of the new law led it to be referred to the ECJ by the European Commission for failing to implement the Directive into national legislation. This case will be dismissed now the Act has been passed.
The Act preserves some of the requirements and obligations of previous legislation but also introduces new rules, including:
• an expansion of the role of local authorities and administration. For example, mayors of municipalities with populations of more than 10,000 must provide sites where households can hand over their own (individually collected) waste free of charge. The Act allows mayors to grant private operators the right to develop and manage such sites
• specific objectives for municipalities to achieve by 2020. These include establishing waste management systems for individual collection of household waste covering at least 6 million people in Bulgaria, including all settlements with populations of more than 5,000 and all resorts. It also includes specific objectives for recovering waste paper, plastic and glass, a requirement to recycle all construction and bio waste, and the introduction of systems for separate collection, recycling and use of household waste and for recycling at least 50% of household waste, including paper and cardboard, metal, plastic, glass and similar waste
• requirements for the provision of bank guarantees (of between BGN 200,000 to BGN 1 million) by waste recovery organizations and by those performing their waste recovery obligations individually
• requirements for all those with an existing licence to trade ferrous and non-ferrous metal waste to apply for new permits (or cease trading) within 6 months of the Act being published
• requirements for those assigning the construction or demolition of buildings to prepare plans for managing, recycling and recovering construction waste
• the introduction of a product charge on polymeric bags, aimed at limiting their usage
• requirements for users of commercial sites, production, business and administrative buildings to collect waste separately and to deliver it to waste disposal and/or waste recovery organisations
• the introduction of higher penalties for failure to comply with the provisions of the Act
Law: Waste Management Act
