• The inspections are to clean contaminated sites and roads with adjasent service areas

In letters to all regional inspectorates of environment and water (RIEW) and to the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, the MOEW requested its regional units to issue instructions to all municipalities on the territory under their control to take strict measures to implement their waste management commitments.

By the end of March, the mayors must carry out checks for the presence of waste contamination sites in the municipality. Where contamination is found, action must be taken to remove it. As owners of municipal roads, they need to clean waste from roads, road facilities, service areas, roadside service complexes and provide containers for collecting waste on the municipal road network and organize the transportation of the waste collected to treatment facilities.

After the deadline, from the beginning of April, the RIEW will start inspections to establish the results of the implemented measures. In case of non-compliance, the administrative and penal measures foreseen by the law will be taken against municipal leaders. The aim of this control is to prevent the dumping of waste in unauthorised places, the formation of landfills and the re-pollution of already cleaned areas.

The MOEW has also written to the Road Infrastructure Agency to order the cleaning of the country's national roads, the provision of containers for waste collection and the maintenance of the national road network in good environmental condition.

The Ministry appeals to citizens to be environmentally responsible and to dispose of their waste only in permitted places and, if they encounter unregulated dumping sites, to report their location to the relevant municipality or RIEW.