Civic initiative against waste burning in Sofia

The petition was organized by citizens of Serdika district, who are the founders of the local, civic initiative against Sofia Municipality’s project for the construction of a waste burning installation in Thermal Power Plant “Sofia”, behind Central train station.

Other Sofia districts are expected to join in and start their own civic initiatives for gathering signatures against the project.

Local activists gathered signatures and informed their neighbors about the municipality’s plans to annually burn 180 000 tons of garbage meters away from their homes, at 20 different points in Banishora, Orlandovtsi, Fondovi Zhilishta and Benkovski.

The chairman of the initiative group, Evgeni Pavlov, urged his fellow citizens to inform themselves and be proactive, because: “Sofia Municipality’s plans must be suspended. The only way is to force the issue with mass civic activity and initiative. Our active involvement is highly necessary.”

The “For the Earth” ecological association, which supports the initiative, is constantly reminding us about the dangers of this project, or more specifically:
- In the already highly polluted Sofia air, new volumes of dangerous cancerogenic pollutants would be emitted: fine particles (12,8 tons per year), dioxins (0,13 grams per year), heavy metals (0,7 tons per year cadmium, lead, mercury etc.), nitrogen oxide (256 tons per year) and organic chemicals that weaken the immune system and could cause a premature death from cancer, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and lung diseases;
- 25 tons of highly toxic ashes would be generated daily from the waste burning and these ashes would have to be disposed in special depots for hazardous waste hundreds of kilometers away, at the expense of the local taxpayers;
- There would be destruction of materials with enormous energy-saving potential if they’re recycled, to only replace 10% of the currently used natural gas;
- The fulfilment of Bulgaria’s obligations for the recycling and effective use of resources would be severely obstructed, which could lead to new penal procedures and fines for our country.

There are other Bulgarian cities threatened by projects for waste burning in Thermal Power Plants and other factories – Sliven, Ruse, Bobov dol, Peshtera and Razgrad. The waste burning has already begun in Vratsa, Zlatna Panega and Devnya.

There was a projection of the “Trashed” documentary at the “Cinema’s home” Film Centre on February 2nd 2016, as well as a discussion as part of the campaign against the waste burning in Sofia. The hall was packed out and everyone signed the petition afterwards.