• Bulgaria has notified the European Commission’s TRIS system of the draft legislative amendments to introduce the system

Bulgaria has notified the European Commission’s TRIS system of the draft Law Amending and Supplementing the Waste Management Act, which establishes the regulatory framework for the introduction of a national deposit system for beverage containers.

The notification is part of the procedure established at the European level for the prior review of national technical regulations in the context of the European Union’s internal market rules.

The notification is a formal step in the procedure and does not yet mark the start of the national legislative process. The draft is set to be published for public access and subjected to an open and transparent public consultation.

The Ministry of Environment and Water will engage in dialogue with all stakeholders - manufacturers, retailers, industry associations, waste recovery organizations, the recycling sector, local authorities, civil society organizations, and other participants who will be involved in the system’s operation. The goal is for all well-reasoned positions and proposals to be heard and considered during the process of finalizing the draft bill. That is precisely why the next stage will be conducted with maximum publicity, transparency, and meaningful stakeholder participation.

The bill has been drafted in accordance with the European framework on packaging and packaging waste, including the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2025/40, while taking into account European best practices and national specificities.

Minister Rositsa Karamfilova is unequivocal: “The deposit system is a significant change, and therefore its implementation must be the result of an open and professional process. The notification is a formal step in the procedure and does not represent the finalization of the legislative process. The draft is set to be published for public access and subjected to an open and transparent public consultation. Our goal is to build a system that is not only functional and effective but also fair. The deposit is the citizens’ money. The operator will ‘hold’ hundreds of millions of euros in third-party funds at any given time, including from unclaimed deposits and materials from millions of packages annually. The deposit system must work the same for everyone - regardless of whether a person lives in a big city or in the most remote settlement. And that is why the state acts not as an operator, but as a guarantor.”

The introduction of a deposit system is aimed at improving the efficiency of the separate collection and recycling of certain beverage containers and at making better use of the materials they contain as a resource.

This legislative measure is also part of the implementation of the Roadmap for the Republic of Bulgaria’s accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and is related to the OECD’s Environmental Policy Committee’s technical review of Bulgaria. It represents the final measure required to complete the technical review of Bulgaria in the field of the environment.

The transition to a circular economy and the improvement of resource efficiency are among the strategic priorities of the Ministry of Environment and Water. In this context, the national deposit system is an important step toward developing a more effective model for packaging waste management that promotes separate collection, high-quality recycling, and the return of valuable materials back into the economic cycle.