Sofia's mounting rubbish crisis follows an neighbouring precedent
By Steven Graning
New members of the European Union often emulate their western neighbours in the pursuit of higher living standards, but ignoring the consequences of increased consumption has some ugly and messy consequences. One case in point is Bulgaria.
Falling short
Sofia is taking a series of short-term decisions to cope with its municipal solid waste problem, a problem that came to light in 2005, when residents of Suhodol, an outlying area of Sofia that held the Bulgarian capital's primary landfill, began protesting against the pollution and odour caused by the waste disposal site. When the dump was closed, Sofia was left to scramble for takers of its solid waste. Meanwhile, the city bundled its rubbish and stored it at temporary, aboveground locations in nearby villages.
Two towns, Tsalapitsa and Karlovo, agreed in 2007 to take Sofia's waste, but such was the quantity that the agreed-to amounts were transferred in less than a year. Suddenly facing a garbage crisis without a long-term solution, Sofia officials voted to reopen the Suhodol landfill amid protests from green parties and some local residents. Such was the resistance in Suhodol that a movement emerged to officially detach the suburb from Sofia Municipality, according to The Sofia Echo. Even if the city succeeds in reopening the landfill, experts predict it will use up its remaining capacity in just 18 months.
Suhodol residents, however, are unwilling to put up with the current state of affairs for even that long. According to 56-year-old Roumen Pavlov, he and his neighbours gather for weekly protests against the landfill. With Pavlov's home just one-and-a-half kilometres from the dump, wind blowing from the direction of the dump "stinks very strongly," he complains.
Unfortunately for Bulgarian authorities, there are other, bigger neighbours to worry about as well. In January 2008 the European Union threatened the country with sanctions for non-compliance with environmental impact assessment regulations. While it remains uncertain whether or not the EU will follow through on its threats, Bulgarians would do well to look at a fellow EU member who has not only been warned over municipal waste, but is now headed to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over the matter.
