site.btaProtest Held in front of Sofia City Hall over Ongoing Waste Collection Issues

Citizens protested in front of Sofia City Hall on Sunday over the ongoing problem with waste collection in the capital. The protest was organized on Facebook by Mariyan Tashev under the slogan "Let's throw the garbage out on Moskovska Street 33." 

Sofia Municipality told BTA that the protest had been officially announced. 

The participants in the demonstration blocked traffic on Moskovska Street 33. They placed bags of garbage with photos of Mayor Vassil Terziev on them in front of Sofia City Hall and chanted "Resign". They held posters reading "Resignation of the mayor!" and "Sofia has become a garbage dump." At the of the protest, the participants took the bags of garbage to the nearby waste containers.

Several boroughs of Bulgaria's capital have been experiencing waste collection issues since October 2025. The crisis began in  Lyulin and Krasno Selo after Sofia City Hall refused to sign new waste collection contracts over inflated prices. At the time, Mayor Terziev said that Sofia Municipality would not pay a protection racket fee and would not yield to “mafia practices”. In early December, Izgrev, Poduyane, and Slatina joined the list of boroughs with disrupted waste collection. A temporary collection system has been in force since. 

During the first days of 2026, citizens reported difficulties with waste collection in several areas, including the Lyulin, Poduyane, and Slatina boroughs. Representatives of Sofia City Hall assured that the backlog in collection in critical areas of Sofia will be cleared.