The Sofia Municipality has taken emergency measures to overcome the garbage collection crisis in the "Slatina", "Poduyane" and "Izgrev" districts. At an extraordinary briefing, Mayor Vasil Terziev and Deputy Mayor for Ecology Nadezhda Bobcheva assured that all available resources have been mobilized to ensure cleanliness in the affected neighborhoods, Nova TV reports.
- Mobilization of equipment and human resources
“We are mobilizing everything we have. In addition, we expect additional equipment next week - 6 new trucks to increase capacity“, said Nadezhda Bobcheva. Currently, a total of 11 garbage collection vehicles are working on the ground, and their number is expected to increase to 14 in the near future.
- Strategy with “buffer“ containers
To prevent the accumulation of waste around the bins, the municipality is deploying large “gondola“ containers at key locations. One of these points is on the border between the districts of „Poduyane“ and „Slatina“ - municipally owned terrain.
The mayor of „Poduyane“ district Kristiyan Hristov and the mayor of „Slatina“ Georgi Iliev explained that these containers will serve mainly for reloading the garbage collected from the small streets by the teams and volunteers, so as not to waste time on trips to the waste plant. However, citizens can also dispose of bulky waste there.
- Appeal to citizens and future challenges
„We are working tirelessly to find lasting solutions. We want to reassure citizens that the necessary work has been done for these three districts“, said Terziev.
The district mayors called on Sofia residents to dispose of waste separately in order to reduce the volume of general garbage, and not to throw construction materials in household garbage containers. They also appealed for signaling when bins are full through the available mobile applications and websites.
Apart from the topic of garbage collection, the briefing also touched on changes in the organization of traffic in the center. At the same time, a specific step in this direction was announced - starting tomorrow, the parking lot in front of the temple-monument “St. Alexander Nevski“ will be removed, and the space will become a completely pedestrian zone, with the goal of permanently freeing it from cars and improving it.