Prior to the building of the regional landfill, each of the municipalities only had to take care of the waste disposal on its territory, which led to higher service costs to its citizens. The landfill did not correspond to European standards, such as Framework Directive on Waste 75/442 amended by EC Directive 91/556, EC Directive on Hazardous Waste 91/689 and EC Directive on Landfill of Waste 1999/31); in many places there were unsanctioned landfills.

The bad smelling gas of the landfill attracted butterflies, mosquitoes and mice that destroyed the ecological system near the dump, putting public health at risk. The soil under the dumps was not re-cultivated, the separate waste management was not introduced and the waste management process as a whole did not correspond to the requirements of the EC Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on Landfill of Waste. This Directive, through stringent operational and technical requirements on the waste and landfills, provides for measures, procedures and guidance on preventing or reducing as far as possible negative effects on the environment. In particular, this concerns pollution of surface water, groundwater, soil and air, as well as causing the greenhouse effect in the global environment. This also results in risks to human health from landfill waste during the entire life-cycle of the landfill. All of these reasons led to developing a national plan for building/reconstruction of 55 regional landfills. The old landfills that do not match the EU criteria must be shut down by 16 July 2009.

The new landfill is situated on the territory of Gorna Malina Municipality. Since the local government could not provide a municipal property for that purpose, the new facility had to be built on a private property, part of which was bought by Gorna Malina Municipality and part was exchanged for suitable land in different locations.

Then, after a process of analysing and monitoring by the Ministry of Environment and Water (MEW), which was responsible for the fulfillment of the National Waste Management Strategy, the partner municipalities chose to announce a public procurement procedure to hire a private company for the waste management. The two municipalities signed a contract, describing the conditions for public procurement procedures, including the quality and the cost of the service that should be provided by the private company. Afterwards, each of the municipalities signed separate contracts for winner of the bidding procedure, the BKO company. The entire process was supervised by MEW, including The feasibility analysis, the public procurement procedure and the building of the landfill.

In every municipality there is a Deputy Mayor and an environmental expert, responsible for the environment, and in this case, waste management. The municipal inspectors control the quality of service provided. A regional branch of MEW also controls the running of the landfill.

The price of waste disposal per tonne is the same for both municipalities, and the amount of waste is measured for each. This is financed through the waste management fees, defined by the Municipal Councils of both municipalities and gathered by the municipal tax administrations annually according to Bulgarian legislation.

The idea of a regional landfill emerged in 1995, but it took a long time to convince the people living in the area of its need and the Municipal Councils to vote in their ordinances in favour of the common decision. On 1 July 2003, the first landfill cell was built and its exploitation began. The total equipment area of the landfill is 48,085.9 m²; thetotal capacity of the three cells is 592,468 m³; thetotal number of the served population is 30,000. The life of the landfill according to the calculations wouldbe up to 23 years.

To ensure accountability to citizens, several procedures were negotiated between the partner municipalities. First, the quantity of the waste disposed for the current year is measured to forecast the next year’s expenses. On the basis of this estimate and in accordance with the Bulgarian law, the city councils vote on the waste disposal tax for the following year. They also ensure that the revenues from the waste disposal taxes are spent only on the provision of this specific service. At the end of each year, the mayors and the councils deliver a public report to the citizens on the quality and financing of the waste management.

The responsibility of monitoring and evaluating the service is assigned to the municipal inspectors under the municipal administration. These experts assess and report on the quality and quantity of the waste disposed. Their monthly reports are the basis for monthly payments to the private company operating the waste management. Their annual reports are the basis for the calculations that determine the level of the taxes for the next year.

The idea for the construction of a number of regional landfills in Bulgaria emerged in 1995. Since both municipalities Elin Pelin and Gorna Malina have modest financial possibilities, their leadership had to join efforts in carrying out the detailed work schedule included in the National Waste Management Strategy, prepared by MEW. In the strategy, the Government set the detailed requirements of the regional landfills to be built and committed to: securing funds for buying land; performing feasibility studies; carrying out the technical plans for the landfills, equipment and mechanization; and closing and re-cultivating the old landfills. The funds had to be secured from the national budget and the EU funds.

Fortunately, the regional landfill of Elin Pelin and Gorna Malina was chosen to become part of Group 1 (among six possible groups), the first to be built. The choice was based on several factors: the landfill was relatively small and could be built quickly, and equally important, the cost was affordable.

The leadership of the both municipalities therefore had to jointly publicize the idea among the citizens of the municipalities and to clearly explain the positive impact of the new facility to public health and preservation of nature.

The first steps included:

1. collecting information on waste management to launch an information campaign on the impact of the regional waste management among the inhabitants of the two municipalities;
2. conducting meetings, seminars and conferences on the topic of waste management;
3. conducting different forms of training;
4. forming a team of experts in ecology and local economic development, and a jurist from each municipality;
5. developing guidelines for the exploitation of the landfill by the expert team (such as routes for machines/lorries to and within the landfill, air pollution measures, collection and directing the wastewaters, infiltration of the landfill, staff safety, qualification programmes for the landfill staff);
6. developing the monitoring system (such as measuring the quantity of the waste, taking control samples of the waste, soil, air, smell, and other emissions);
7. joint lobbying of the MEW by the leaders of the partner municipalities in order to include the construction of the new landfill in the National Waste Management Strategy.

First, the two municipalities prepared a detailed analysis of the quantities, the composition and the sources of generated waste. The findings became the basis for a ten–year forecast of the waste volume. Next, the procedures had to be developed for the exploitation of the landfill. At that time, the way to manage the landfill – i.e. setting up a municipal company or hiring a private one, was a crucial issue.

To strengthen decision making, the expert team defined the requirements of the landfill exploitation and grouped them as follows:

• Technical requirements – corresponding to the directions for the exploitation, the action plan for critical situations, and the monitoring system.
• Financial requirements – which financial resource both municipalities would provide for acquiring a bulldozer, dumper, compactor, etc. In this case, the financial possibilities of the municipalities proved inadequate.
• Ecological requirements – the organization of the process had to guarantee effective monitoring and proper care for the environment.
• Legal requirements – the management of the landfill had to correspond to the Bulgarian legal framework.
• Social requirements – the exploitation had to prevent a sharp increase in the waste fee.
• Political requirements – the conditions of the landfill exploitation for both municipalities had to be the same.

After the above-described detailed analysis was completed, the municipal officials had to agree on the form of landfill management. First, these elected officials agreed that the guiding principle of the waste management would be ‘high quality service delivered to citizens at the lowest possible expenditures’. On this basis, they decided to launch a bidding procedure for companies to apply for the landfill operation.

They pointed out the following solid arguments:

• The public procurement procedure allows for a healthy competition among private companies and leads to a more effective management of the landfill.
• The private company to be selected would be a specialized firm with experience in waste management.
• The municipalities would control and report the quality of the service provided on a monthly basis.
• The waste fee would be increased only on the basis of a solid financial analysis and in-depth discussions.
• The conditions of the use of the landfill for the two municipalities are equal – the per tonne price of the waste disposal at the landfill is the same, and every municipality pays for the exact amounts disposed.

On 1 July 2003, the exploitation of the first cell of the landfill began. The cost of the first cell was BGN1.6 million

It was built in compliance with all European requirements while respecting nature conservation.

After the local authorities, including all elected officials, had agreed on a common goal and landfill management principles, their political affiliation did not influence the establishment of the cooperation.

In terms of external assistance, the expert capacity of the two municipalities was sufficient. The representatives of the municipalities and a representative of MEW jointly administered the construction of the landfill.

The building of the new landfill was financially supported by the state budget (BGN 920,000), other state funds (BGN 591,000) and the Enterprise for Management of Environmental Protection Activities (EMEPA) administered under the Ministry of Environment and Waters (BGN726,992). The financial contribution of the two municipalities was BGN155,294. The MEW managed, coordinated and supervised the construction of the landfill with the cooperation of experts at the regional and local levels.

The construction of the three cells of the new facility, totalling BGN2.4 million, had to comply with all European requirements and the following technology:

• an isolation package;
• drainage layer leachate collection system;
• leachate monitoring and extraction well;
• biogas collecting and removing pipeline;
• a composite liner system to prevent leachate from leaving the landfill and entering the environment.

To further prevent pollution in the area, after the construction had finished, alder trees were planted around the landfill to form a protection zone.

This small regional landfill has a 23-year capacity and a daily capacity of disposed waste of 40–50 tonnes.

Without the crucial support of the Government and the MEW, such a project would have proved financially unviable for the two municipalities in spite of their cooperation.

When needed, institutional support was received through consultation and advice from the MEW experts and financial support from the state budget. In order to effectively implement the project, municipal and ministerial teams would often meet to discuss how to apply the corresponding legislation, e.g. the National Waste Management Plan, the Waste Management Act, and the regulations consisting of instruments and requirements for building and managing the regional fields.

It is important to note that Elin Pelin and Gorna Malina are small municipalities in rural areas, and the vast majority of their inhabitants live in villages. Most of their inhabitants practise traditional dumping of waste in the outskirts of the settlement, although they have already observed the impact of the rubbish dumps on their health and on the environment. In order to change their habits of waste disposal, the municipal administration carried out information campaigns and had to explain the changes in the legal framework of the waste management in the country with respect to Bulgarian’s access to the EU.

Unsurprisingly, the initial reluctance of the villagers to accept the new form of waste management was overcome due to the persistence of the municipal experts. The campaigners succeeded to clearly explain the issues related to the traditional dumping and raise public awareness on the new legislative requirements, the impact of the new landfill facility on public health and environmental conservation. They also pointed out the advantage of having state financial support for the construction of the new landfill.

The main success factors:

• a shared vision on the need to invent regional waste management;
• expert capacity at the local level;
• good coordination of experts at the local, regional and central levels;
• financial support from the state budget;
• transparent and effective governance at the local level;
• professional management of the regional landfill.

Benefits and shortcomings of the IMC

Benefits

• For the partner municipalities

The administration of both municipalities made great progress towards fulfilling one of their main goals – protection and conservation of natural resources on the territory and closing of the unregulated dumps. In the field of waste management, local policy has complied with the EU regulations.

• For the citizens

The quality of the service has been improved without raising the cost of the waste disposal and the fees paid by the citizens.

For the first time, a new regional landfill serves citizens’ needs and provides a waste disposal management service in line with the environmental requirements. In the past, the inhabitants of the villages would dump their waste at unsanctioned landfills that harmed the environment and themselves. By contrast, today, specialized lorries gather the waste and dispose it at the regional landfill in an environmentally friendly way.

The citizens were proud that they had the first modern, regional landfill in the Sofia Oblast region.

Shortcomings

A possible conflict area is that of control of the waste disposal, which is provided by the regional branches of the MEW. Also, there is a lack of coordination between the monitoring authority and the municipalities.

Another potential problem is the fact that the waste fee, gathered by the municipalities, covers only the actual waste management, and is rather low. In the future, a need will emerge to close the landfill, to re-cultivate the land and build a new one or a waste disposal plant. Either citizens will have to pay increased waste management fees or the municipalities will have to rely on the state budget. The mandate of the municipal administration is four years and there is a risk that the resolution of this extremely serious issue could be postponed to the very last minute.

Main lessons learned in establishing IMC and making it a success

• The EU accession brought its first fruits to Bulgarian citizens and will enhance the country’s nature conservation.
• Good coordination of governments at all levels brings quick positive results.
• Municipal leadership should invest in building expert capacity at the local level in small municipalities in order to cope with bigger and more complex projects.
• A transparent dialogue with citizens helps to achieve support and success for the initiatives of the municipal leadership.
• The financial support of the Government and the state budget is crucial for the small municipalities in providing better life conditions for their citizens.

IMC has already been replicated through implementation of the National Plan for the Building/Reconstruction of 55 regional landfills.

To support the replication of this good practice, the Central Government should:

• provide necessary regulations and instructions;
• provide financial, technical and expert support, coordination and monitoring.

The Association of Municipalities should:

• carry out information campaigns to assist small municipalities in gaining financial, technical and expert support;
• provide training in enhancing professional qualification of municipal experts.