5498 | 15 Jan. 2026 | 11:33

The capital's mayor expressed hope that the government will not once again take on the role it had during the transportation crisis, and will instead decide to provide assistance without being asked

 "I have a brief message - we will handle the trash crisis in Sofia," said the mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev at a briefing at the Sofia Municipal Council (SMC) reported by BTA.

 Terziev stated that there are problems with waste in four to five districts of Sofia, while the remaining 19 do not have such issues. "We have put a lot of effort into the districts where things are not in order, and we will fix them in the coming weeks," noted the mayor.

 He added that they have been assured by the director of "Sofekostroy" that the issue with regular waste collection and removal of bulky waste in the districts of "Lyulin" and "Krasno Selo" will be resolved by the end of the month. Terziev also assured that there will be more equipment and personnel on the ground to address the situation.

 The same efforts are being made for the "Slatina" and "Poduyane" districts, where there is also work being done for more equipment and employees from the Capital Waste Management Enterprise, which cleans these areas.

 According to Terziev, the picture that is being presented is slightly different. I'm not saying there isn't a problem, but there is a completely different campaign going on that has nothing to do with the actual state of the garbage or our efforts to fix it, said the mayor of the capital city. He believes that the reason for this is the upcoming elections, which is why the garbage issue is being politicized.
 
 Terziev expressed hope that the state will not play the role it did during the transportation crisis and decide to provide assistance without being asked. For Terziev, the big battle is against the people who are not accustomed to being told "no". We're talking about 400 million levs. From the top, I hope we can carry this battle through to the end with collective efforts and not politicize it unnecessarily, commented Vasil Terziev. He stated that the battle against political garbage and the political system is something that we will not be able to fix in a few months.

 It requires a lot more work from society as a whole to change the mentality and the way the system works, said the mayor of Sofia.

 He reassured that there will be no increase in the "household waste" fee for this year and the goal is to not have an increase next year as well. Terziev called on the residents of Sofia to separate their waste in order to smoothly transition to the principle of "the polluter pays."

 As of October 5, 2025, the Sofia Municipality has implemented a crisis organization for waste management in the districts of "Lulin" and "Krasno selo" due to the termination of the contract with the cleaning company.

 Temporary waste collection organization has also entered the "Izgrev", "Poduyane" and "Slatina" districts as of December 1st last year. The reason once again is the expiration of the contract with the servicing company and the delay of the new public procurement, whose solution was appealed to the Commission for Protection of Competition.

 Two days ago, the Inspectorate of Sofia Municipality declined to declare a state of emergency in connection with the waste crisis. Despite the promises of the mayor and the denial of the Inspectorate, the fact is that Sofia is buried in garbage.

 On Sunday, citizens unloaded bags of waste at "Moskovska" 33 and placed photos of Mayor Vasil Terziev on them. People gathered to protest in front of Sofia Municipality due to the waste collection problem in Sofia and blocked the traffic.

 The action was organized on Facebook by Mariyan Tashev and was titled "Let's Throw Out the Trash on Moskovska Street 33." The protesters chanted "Resignation". Residents of "Levski" quarter also alerted about "mountains" of trash in front of their balconies.

 "How much more garbage needs to pile up before it gets cleaned? Before the holidays, the wind blew all the trash to the fence of Block 40 in Levski G. Not to mention right next to Block 40, where the grassy areas are - it's full of scattered trash.

 This city has turned into a real ghetto and we have one person, who has no shame, to thank for all of this mess. "Let's not forget that people spent their most joyous holidays in this mess," writes a resident of the neighborhood in one of the local groups, accompanied by the following pictures: In the group "Spotted in Sofia," a video was published showing dozens of rubbish bags floating down a main boulevard.

 Due to the heavy rain in various parts of Sofia two days ago, there were makeshift "rivers and lakes" forming. In one of these, along a main boulevard, large bags of rubbish were even carried along, hindering the traffic of vehicles.