“We are starting the cleanup of yet another illegal landfill. This time on Kostenets Street, which connects the Vazrazhdane and Krasno Selo districts. It is time to put an end to systemic pollution,“ said Deputy Mayor for Ecology Eng. Nikolay Nedelkov at the start of the campaign.
Kostenets Street is a 1200 m long municipal terrain connecting the Krasno Selo and Krasno Selo districts. and “Vazrazhdane“, for which pollution signals have been received since 2014. In 2023 and 2024, their number increased dramatically. The place has a long history of unscrupulous disposal of mixed household, bulky and construction waste, which turned the terrain into a risky landfill. Currently, specialized equipment is clearing the accumulated waste. Over 20 tons were removed on the first day alone, and activities are ongoing. The complete clearing of the street will “revive” the route and will significantly ease traffic between the two areas.
This action is part of the Municipality's consistent efforts to deal with the over 300 risk points in the city, one of which was the recently cleaned area “Koriyata“ in the “Lyulin“ area.
“Cleaning alone is not enough and neither the municipality nor the people of Sofia can afford to continuously spend public resources on cleaning the same areas, which after a few weeks are polluted again. That is why we are relying on increased control. As we did on the area near the lakes in Dolni Bogrov, video surveillance will be installed here as well, with the aim of permanent prevention against re-pollution“, emphasized Nikolay Nedelkov.
We recall that the Sofia Municipal Council approved with a full majority the report of the Deputy Mayor for the purchase of 100 autonomous cameras with artificial intelligence. The investment of 250,000 euros, specifically provided from deductions under Art. 64 of the Municipal Waste Management Act, aims to stop the waste of public resources (over 1.2 million leva for the last two years) for repeated cleaning of the same places. The systems allow for 24-hour monitoring, vehicle identification and automatic recognition of violations through artificial intelligence.
In parallel with the technological renovation, the Sofia Inspectorate reports a record growth in control activities aimed at combating pollution. For the first half of 2026, 2,058 inspections were carried out, 989 fines were imposed with a ticket and 350 acts for unregulated waste disposal were drawn up - nearly 70% growth compared to the same period of the previous year.
The Sofia Municipality calls on citizens to cooperate during the campaign by not parking their cars within the scope of the cleaning and complying with the temporary traffic organization when the introduction of such is necessary. Systematic actions to improve cleanliness in the city continue.