site.btaOver 5,700 Waste Collection-related Reports Filed with Sofia Municipality since October 2025

More than 5,700 reports related to waste collection and waste removal have been filed with Sofia Municipality between October 4, 2025 and January 9, 2026. The reports were submitted by residents and received through the Municipality’s Contact Centre from all 24 boroughs of the capital, Sofia Municipality told BTA in connection with the crisis waste-collection arrangements introduced in five boroughs of Sofia.

The total number of reports filed by residents through the Sofia Municipality Contact Centre in 2025 amounted to 123,361. Of these, 14,971 were related to problems with waste collection and waste removal, the Municipality added.

Regarding waste containers not emptied according to schedule, 1,372 reports have been received by the Contact Centre since October last year. A further 1,300 reports concerned illegally dumped bulky, construction and other waste, while 1,103 reports related to requests for extraordinary removal of household waste from public infrastructure, Sofia Municipality said. For the period from October 4, 2025 to January 9, 2026, a total of 2,531 reports were filed from the boroughs of Izgrev, Poduyane, Slatina, Lyulin and Krasno Selo. 

On October 5, 2025, Sofia Municipality introduced crisis waste-collection arrangements in the Lyulin and Krasno Selo boroughs due to the expiry of the contract with the cleaning company. The only remaining bidder in the Municipality’s public procurement procedure for selecting new contractors proposed a price that was twice as high as a reasonable market estimate, the municipal administration said at the time. Subsequently, Mayor Vassil Terziev assigned the cleaning of Lyulin, Krasno Selo and Krasna Polyana to the municipal company Sofekostroy for the next five years.

Temporary waste-collection arrangements were also introduced in the Izgrev, Poduyane and Slatina boroughs as of December 1, 2025. The reason was again the expiry of the contract with the servicing company and delays in the new public procurement procedure, whose outcome was appealed before the Commission for Protection of Competition.

Difficulties in waste removal subsequently occurred in the Izgrev, Poduyane, Slatina, Lyulin and Krasno Selo boroughs due to a lack of sufficient equipment to service the containers, prompting residents to submit complaints to the competent institutions, including the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water (RIEW) in Sofia. The first report to the Sofia environmental inspectorate was registered on October 7, while the last one was filed on December 29, 2025. A total of 17 reports were recorded during this period, the RIEW-Sofia told BTA on January 9.

Under the Waste Management Act, the mayor of a municipality is responsible for organizing the management of household and construction waste generated within the territory of the respective municipality, the RIEW-Sofia said.