Circular economy and “polluter pays” principle in Bulgarian municipalities

The current method of defining waste fee (as a percentage of the property tax) does not stimulate citizens and economic entities to prevent waste generation and separate recyclable waste at source. Although Bulgaria amended its legislation to address the issue back in 2015, the application of the provisions has been postponed several times in the course of nearly ten years. The way to overcome this challenge is to optimise waste management and introduce municipal waste charges based on actual waste quantities produced by each household or economic entity generating municipal waste. In mid-2023, the European Commission services launched an infringement procedure against Bulgaria for failure to comply with the 'pollutеr pays’ principle. In 2024, appropriate regulatory and guidance documents should be established to ensure full-fledged implementation of the principle. This article analyses the results of a demonstration project performed at a small scale on the territory of the municipality of Gabrovo inspired and supported by one of the authors. At ten waste collection points in the city, state-of-the-art equipment was installed to measure the quantity of waste disposed by individual households (more than 300 households agreed to participate). The data was stored in tailor-made software, providing feedback and motivation through a competition that awarded devoted participants. The obtained data from the two demonstration stages (without and with separate collection at source) were used for comparative analysis and forecasts on possible future implementation of pay-as-you-throw schemes. The rate of active participants (24%) and the potential to reduce residual waste generation in case of active participation (23%) are promising. The conclusion is that, based on the cost coverage principle, the expected average fee will not increase much with the new PAYT model. The most serious challenge appears to be the cross-subsidy between households and economic entities generating municipal waste, the latter being the prevailing source of waste fee revenues. The shift to fair calculation of waste fees requires difficult and unpopular decisions by all Bulgarian municipalities.