On August 3, 2023, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Environment and Water (MoEW) between the President of the Board of the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) Dobri Mitrev, experts from BIA, branch organizations, members of the Association, and the Minister of the Environment Julian Popov. Minister Popov was accompanied by Deputy Ministers Nikolay Sidzhimov and Petar Dimitrov, Chief of Staff Maria Nedina and Svetlana Bozhkova - Director of the Waste Directorate.
The expert discussion was attended by representatives of: the Association of Soft Drink Manufacturers, the Union of Brewers in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Recovery and Recycling Association, the Bulgarian Polymers Association, the Association for Modern Trade, the Bulgarian Association of the Metallurgical Industry, the Bulgarian Recycling Association, the Textile Association recycling, Bulgarian Circular Textile Association, APPLiA Bulgaria - household electrical appliances, Bulgarian Retail Association, Association of the Recycling Industry, Food and Beverage Association Bulgaria and Bulgarian Association of the Tobacco Industry.
"For BIA, clean industry and proper waste management is not a priority since yesterday, and European regulations are not the reason why we are concerned about this aspect of the economy. In the Association, we have had a Clean Industry Center since 1995. During all these years, MOEW has been one of the ministries with which we have worked most actively. The reason for today's meeting is, on the one hand, to continue this joint work, and, on the other hand, to meet directly with the people from whom the expert analyzes and proposals for changes come," said the President of BIA Dobri Mitrev at the beginning of the meeting.
Among the discussed topics were waste management and the transition to a circular economy, analysis of the effectiveness and formulation of effective legislation related to extended producer responsibility; to determine the criteria for fulfilling the obligations of those placing single-use plastic products on the market, legal framework for packaging and packaging waste, incl. development of deposit system - with the active participation of the business itself, active position of the MoEW in the transition to calculating the fee for household waste based on the amount generated, creation of a methodology for determining the amount of financial responsibility of the marketers of filters for tobacco products containing plastic, etc.
The meeting ended with a presentation of one of the key initiatives of BIA and the branch organizations - Plastic Pact Bulgaria, aimed at popularizing and achieving the goals of separate collection and recycling of packaging.
