“Preventing and reducing plastic waste should be our main priority. In the European Union we need to increase our ambition in this respect, especially as the amount of plastic waste continues to grow, said Deputy Prime Minister for Climate Policy and Minister of Environment and Water Borislav Sandov at the official presentation of an initiative, which brings together sector organizations, companies, and state institutions in order to reduce waste from plastic packaging and encourage its utilization as a raw material in the circular economy in Bulgaria.

The minister pointed out that the annual world production of plastics has increased from 2 to 380 million tons since 1950 and is expected to double by 2035 and increase almost 4 times by 2050. “The transition to a circular economy will be systematic, comprehensive, and radical - both inside and outside the EU. We have set ambitious goals in terms of circularity and waste management, including plastic waste. In the EU the goal is to attain 65% reuse of the total amount of all packaging by 2025, and in 2030 – to reuse 70%. For plastics, the reuse target is 20% by 2025 and 55% by 2030. These ambitious goals can only be achieved through coordination and good partnership by the state, the business, the non-governmental sector, local government, scientific and other stakeholders at all levels - European, national, regional and local,” he said.

Minister Sandov quoted a 2018 study by Cambridge Econometrics, which predicts that the application of the principles of the circular economy in all sectors of the EU economy could increase European GDP growth by 0.5% by 2030, thereby generating about 700,000 new jobs. In just 5 years - between 2012 and 2018 - the number of jobs in the EU related to the circular economy has increased by 5% to 4 million.

The minister commended the business for being the initiator of such initiatives, whereby it is driven by the requirements for extended producer responsibility, but also by the desire to contribute to a cleaner environment and better living conditions.

“PLASTIC PACT Bulgaria” is part of a growing global network, which currently includes national and regional PlasticsPact entities from Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Great Britain, Canada, Kenya, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, USA, France, Chile, and South Africa.

The founders of “PLASTIC PACT Bulgaria” are the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce, the Food and Beverage Association in Bulgaria, the Association of Soft Drink Producers in Bulgaria, the Polymers Branch Association, the Bulgarian Chamber of the Chemical Industry, the Bulgarian Recovery and Recycling Association, Denkstatt Bulgaria, the Modern Trade Association, and the Union of Brewers in Bulgaria. The initiative is supported of the Ministry of Environment and Water, the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, and the Ministry of Education and Science.

You can find more about the initiative here: https://plasticspact.bia-bg.com/