The Sofia Municipality is in full operational readiness to guarantee garbage collection in Sofia, despite the temporary difficulties in individual districts. As of today, nine large garbage collection trucks are operating in the “Slatina” and “Poduyane” districts, and their number is expected to increase to 11 in the coming days, in order to catch up with the accumulated amounts of waste and stabilize the regular schedule. In parallel, the narrower streets in the neighborhoods are served by two smaller trucks.
The information was presented at a briefing on January 8, 2026 by Deputy Mayor for Ecology Nadezhda Bobcheva, the Director of the Sofia Waste Treatment Enterprise (SPTO) Nikolay Savov and the Director of the Sofia Inspectorate Nikolay Nedelkov.
Continuity of service has been ensured in 6 of the 7 zones with expired contracts
With the decisions taken in recent days, 6 of the 7 zones whose contracts expired in recent months are now guaranteed service, despite legal procedures and strong institutional pressure.
So far, in the problematic areas of “Slatina” and “Poduyane” At least 6 large and 4 small trucks work daily, and as of today the number of large trucks has been increased to 9, and in the coming days there will be 11 on the field.
The Director of the Sofia Inspectorate Nikolay Nedelkov refuted the claims of municipal councilors:
“It is categorically not true that in “Poduyane” and “Slatina” there are containers that have not been serviced since December 22. All points have been serviced at least once, but with limited capacity and temporary inaccessibility, even a few missed days lead to the views that we are all witnessing. With the available equipment and additional trucks, we expect to catch up on the backlog within a few days.“
Winter maintenance in Zone 3 is also provided through additional contracting.
“Not a single new contract has been signed at 325, 349 or 379 leva per ton. Zero. These are offers that we did not accept and will not accept. We are currently working with annexes to contracts from 2020 – at 175 and 209 leva per ton. Anyone can check it.“ This was stated by the Deputy Mayor for Ecology Nadezhda Bobcheva in response to the allegations of signed contracts at prices that many times exceed the estimated values set by the Municipality in the Mega Order.
The situation by zones:
Zone 1 (“Sredets”, “Lozenets”, “Studentski”)
The service was provided by extending the contracts at the end of December – without interruption and without increasing the garbage fee.
Zone 2 (“Pancharevo”, “Iskar”, “Kremikovtsi”)
The contract has been extended with an annex while maintaining the price of 209 BGN/ton.
Zone 4 (“Ilinden”, “Nadezhda”, “Serdika”)
The cleaning is carried out by temporarily assigning the contractors from neighboring zones (Zone 5 and Zone 7) until the completion of the legal procedures. The prices remain unchanged compared to the already signed annexes.
Zone 5 (“Vrbnitsa”, “Novi Iskar”, “Bankya”)
Continuity is ensured with the annexation of the contract and the preservation of the unit price of 175 BGN/ton.
Zone 6 (“Lyulin”, “Krasna Polyana”, “Krasno Selo”)
From January 1, 2026, a long-term contract with the municipal company “Sofekostroy” for the full scope of cleaning activities.
Zone 7 (“Vazrazhdane”, “Oborishte”, “Triaditsa”)
The service is provided without interruption through the extension of the contract and indexation of the previous prices by 19%, which brings the unit price to 209 BGN/ton.
The remaining cleaning activities, including winter maintenance, are also regulated within the contracts for all these zones.
Zone 3 (“Poduyane”, “Slatina”, “Izgrev”) – work in crisis mode
Zone 3 remains the only zone in crisis mode, served with municipal capacity:
in “Slatina” and “Poduyane” – through the Sofia Waste Treatment Company;
in “Izgrev” – with the regional administration's own capacity and financial support from the Sofia Municipality.
Lasting solutions
In parallel with the temporary solutions, the Sofia Municipality continues to defend its decisions before the Supreme Administrative Court. Work is underway to develop and expand the municipal capacity in order to balance the dependence and ensure competition for external contractors. Another main priority is to stagger the terms of future contracts in order to prevent a similar crisis caused by their simultaneous expiration, as well as to set higher requirements for quality, accountability and control in the new contracts.
The municipality will continue to provide timely information on progress, with the leading priority remaining the continuity of service and the protection of the public interest, despite temporary inconveniences.