The “I know what I throw away” campaign took place from June 16 untill July 16, 2024 and is part of the informational and educational activities regarding the change in the waste collection system, which is going to be implemented by Pomorie Municipality.
Before the start of the campaign during a meeting with the participating households the Mayor Ivan Aleksiev and the project team presented its objectives and distributed informational and educational leaflets with instructions for proper separate waste collection.
The households received bins and different coloured bags for paper, plastic packaging/metal, glass, bio waste/organic and residual/mixed waste. The sorted waste was collected daily according to a predetermined schedule for each type of waste. The goal was for the households to find out in an empirical way how much waste they generate, what part of it can be recycled, to determine their way of shopping and consumption and to comprehense for themselves the right steps for changing their behavior towards reduction and separate waste collection.
In one month, households from one residential building in Pomorie generated a total of 610 kg. waste, of which: 369 kg. bio waste/organic, 37 kg. glass, 51 kg. paper, 65 kg. plastic packaging/metal and 88 kg. residual/mixed wastе.
In compliance with data from the Finance and Directorate in Pomorie Municipality, the average fee for 1 kg waste in the city of Pomorie, for the specified period, is approximately BGN 1/kg, which means that the total waste generated by the monitored households would have cost a total of BGN 610 for this one month, according to the hypothesis that no sorting and waste separation was done. However, if glass, paper and plastic/metal are sorted conscientiously and responsibly, the waste fee will be reduced with 153 kg or BGN 153 (37 kg. glass + 51 kg. paper + 65 kg. plastic/metal).
These households would have paid only 457 leva (total for bio waste/organic and mixed waste). A monthly saving of 153 leva would be achieved, which means a 33% reduction in the waste fee for a month, according to the “pay as you throw” (PAYT) system.
The above example clearly shows the high efficiency and benefits of the separate waste collection for households and businesses through efficient and responsible waste utilization whilst taking care of the nature and at the same time significantly reducing the landfilled waste.
In order to successfully implement this system, it is extremely important that the waste separation is done conscientiously and that the sorted materials are cleaned, so that they can be handed over for recycling and not sent back to the landfill, although collected separately.
In the conducted campaign, the percentage of the collected bio waste/organic was the largest – 60% of the total waste. In order to prevent it being thrown out in the bins for mixed waste, Pomorie Municipality has started distributing brown bins for this kind of waste. Until now, they were distributed only in restaurants and commercial establishments, subsequently they will be available also for households.
The “I know what I throw away” campaign is part the project” Holistic approach to waste management in the transition to a circular economy”, which Pomorie Municipality is implementing together with three partners from Bulgaria and one from Italy. The project is co-financed by the EU LIFE Programme and aims to introduce a new integrated waste management system in the Municipality by providing information, technical and institutional support, pilot testing of a system for separate collection of residual/mixed and recyclable waste directly from the households/business enterprises (door-to-door collection) in a selected area in the city of Pomorie, subsequent implementation of the system in the entire city and introduction of a personalized waste fee based on the amount of generated waste.
