Coexistence
Despite numerous warnings and threats from the EU (last year the European Commission even started a trial against Bulgaria because of not implementing the EU Waste Management Act ), Sofia continues to be the only capital in the Union that does not have a functioning waste disposal system - no waste incineration, no composting, and of course no recycling. Almost 100 per cent of the household waste produced (and unfortunately not only the household one) is compressed into bales that are later transported to dumps – which are usually open pits – throughout the country. The balls themselves are composed of all sorts of garbage; they even contain organic waste, which makes them not only poisonous but also highly explosive.
Sofia’s garbage problem first became obvious to the public in 2005, when the people, who live close to Sofia's operational landfill, after years of submissive conciliation, started staging rallies in order to achieve the closing of the dumpsite because of health and environmental reasons. Those protesters left the streets in the capital littered with waste, posing a serious risk to human health and the environment. After blockading the landfill In July 2005, Suhodol residents forced Sofia authorities to introduce emergency waste management. As a result, the landfill in Suhodol has been closed for a little while, however no permanent solution has been found; only the epicenter of the problem has been shifted away. The ping- pong game continues.
With no proper place for the garbage to be disposed or treated, Sofia has begun baling its waste and transporting it to provisional dumps, very often in immediate proximity of residential buildings.
In Sofia’s suburb of Kremikovzi, one of the poorest in the region, the residents of three apartment buildings surrounded by more than 100,000 garbage bales are literally trying their best to survive. The stench is often unbearable, especially in the summer, and the local environment is so polluted that almost every one of the approximately 100 people who live there is suffering from one or more severe diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart failure, in addition to other illnesses.
There have always been many problems around here to deal with and we often feel sort of suppressed, even God- forgotten but we have never ever expected to wake up one day inside a garbage dump”, said one resident. “And that’s exactly what happens! Nobody has ever talked to us or asked us, nobody has even warned us!”
The garbage is ubiquitous in the area. It is the very first thing one sees and smells when looking through the window or going on the street mountains of pressed garbage. At night, when the streets are streets are empty and nobody is there to disturb, street dogs will come and tear the garbage balls apart, leaving behind drastic and vivid evidence for the their content. The wind will then spread that evidence around the area for everybody to see and remember that there is no escape. Indeed there is no way out for the majority of the community’s residents. With almost no exceptions people who live here are as poor as they could possibly be. Most of them are either retirees with ridiculously small pensions or members of ethnic minorities. Moving away isn’t an option for them at all. In fact these people are driven into coexistence with the garbage of Sofia.
