By order of the Minister of Environment and Water Petar Dimitrov a map of the country with unregulated waste-contaminated terrains identified by the 15 regional inspectorates for environment and water (RIEWs) was created.

Inspection of terrains and increased control over unregulated pollution with household and construction waste began after the completion of the campaign “Let's clean up Bulgaria together”. At the end of September last year, the RIEWs located 240 uncleaned terrains on the territory of the country. The regional inspectorates took action and issued instructions to the relevant mayors to clean them.

On December 10, 2024, the data was updated, identifying 23 new terrains contaminated with waste. It was reported that as a result of the given instructions, 143 of the terrains had been cleaned.

The map of the identified waste-contaminated areas is available on the website of the Ministry of Environment and Water, section RIEW Control Activity– Unregulated waste pollution: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=873eae66ac61465c88b2b71e81c5d70a The areas that are in the process of being cleaned up are marked in red, and the cleaned areas are marked in green. The data will be updated monthly and the results of the control carried out by the RIEWs on obligations fulfillment by municipal mayors to organize the cleaning of illegal landfills will be published on the website of the ministry.

According to the Waste Management Act, municipal mayors are responsible for preventing the dumping of waste in unauthorized sites and the creation of illegal landfills, as well as for organizing their cleaning. Also, the mayor or an official authorized by him/her controls the activities related to the generation, collection (including separation), storage, transportation, treatment of household and construction waste, as well as - the activities of abandoning household waste and its unregulated disposal.

Control by municipalities should be strengthened in order to prevent the formation of new unregulated polluted sites and to clean up existing ones.