site.btaUPDATED Waste-Collection Crisis to Be Resolved, Says Sofia Mayor Terziev

Sofia will cope with its waste-collection crisis, Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev said at a briefing at the Sofia Municipal Council on Thursday. He said problems affected four or five Sofia boroughs, while the other 19 had no issues.

“I have a short message: we will cope with Sofia’s waste crisis,” Terziev said at the briefing at the Sofia Municipal Council. He added that the municipality had put a lot of effort into fixing things in the boroughs where problems persisted over the coming weeks.

“We have received assurances from Sofekostroy’s director that the problems with regular waste collection and bulky waste removal in the Lyulin and Krasno Selo boroughs will be resolved by the end of the month,” Terziev said. He added that additional vehicles and personnel would be deployed on the ground. Similar measures are being implemented in the Slatina and Poduyane boroughs, where work is also under way to provide more equipment and staff from the Sofia municipal waste treatment enterprise responsible for cleaning those areas.

Terziev said the situation being portrayed was somewhat different. “I’m not saying there isn’t a problem, but a completely different campaign is under way, one that has nothing to do with the actual state of waste management or our efforts to address it,” he said. He added that the approaching elections were the reason the issue was being politicized. Terziev also said he hoped the State would not repeat its role during the transport crisis by stepping in with assistance without being asked.

Terziev said the bigger challenge was dealing with people who were not used to being told “no”. “We are talking about an additional BGN 400 million, and I hope we can see this through to the end through a collective effort and without unnecessary politicization,” he said. He added that tackling “political rubbish” and the political system was not something that could be fixed in a few months. Much more work was needed from society as a whole to change attitudes and the way the system functions, he said. Terziev said there would be no increase in the household waste fee this year, with the aim of avoiding an increase next year as well. He urged Sofia residents to separate their waste so the city could transition smoothly to the “polluter pays” principle.  

Sofia’s waste-collection crisis has unfolded in waves since early October 2025, when street-cleaning contracts covering Lyulin and Krasno Selo expired and the municipality switched to temporary crisis arrangements in Lyulin and Krasno Selo while replacement procurement ran into delays and pricing disputes. The situation widened from 1 December 2025, when temporary waste-collection measures were introduced in Izgrev, Poduyane and Slatina after their contractor’s agreement lapsed and the new tender was held up by an appeal to the Commission for Protection of Competition. City Hall has since sought to stabilize services by shifting some affected areas to the municipal company Sofekostroy under a longer-term arrangement from 1 January 2026, as residents filed thousands of reports about missed collections and overflowing containers.