Total waste generation

The total amount of waste generated per capita has decreased over the last decade, and Bulgaria is one of the few Member States where the total amount of waste generated in 2022 was lower than that in 2021. This positive trend is due to the efforts made to improve waste management practices. The proportion of household waste sent for pretreatment and/or recycling is increasing and the proportion of waste sent for direct disposal is decreasing.

In the long term, this positive trend is expected to continue until 2030, with a decrease in waste generation of 55% in comparison with 2010. In order to achieve this, a strategy and action plan for the transition to a circular economy in Bulgaria for 2022–2027 has been adopted. Its main objective is to achieve resource efficiency by fostering the waste management hierarchy, preventing waste generation, promoting reuse and recycling, reducing landfilling and limiting the harmful impact of waste on the environment and human health. These actions include short- and medium-term measures and permanent measures (e.g. the deployment of new technologies for waste separation and treatment and the strengthened control of unregulated waste disposal).