The Deputy Minister of Environment and Water Nikolay Sidzhimov met with Anna Larson - director of the NGO RELOOP, which works on circular economy, Desislava Stoykova - legal advisor to the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria (NAMRB) and Asya Dobrudzhalieva - chairman of the Association of Environmentalists from Municipalities in Bulgaria. The meeting focused on the experience in introducing a packaging deposit system in various European countries.

Ms. Larson made a comparative analysis of the various deposit systems applied on the territory of different European countries, including such that will start functioning in the next few years. She explained the differences in the scope and the parameters of the systems, in accord with the specific features of individual countries and shared instances of major problems and system requirements that need to be carefully considered for their introduction.

The introduction of a packaging deposit system in Bulgaria is part of the government coalition agreement. In this regard, the MOEW has already formed an expert group of representatives of organizations from all industries in Bulgaria, which will be included in the deposit system - from production, through commerce, to recycling. They will jointly discuss the framework and criteria for the study and selection of the most effective and efficient model for the introduction of a deposit system in Bulgaria. The aim is to do this in the most transparent way possible, taking into account the interests of all stakeholders. The first working meeting at expert level is planned for next week.