At the annual civic forum “Democracy Conference”, ecologist Ilian Iliev from the Public Center for Environment and Sustainable Development presented alarming facts about the import and incineration of waste in Bulgaria. His topic, “Destination Waste – Varna”, revealed how our country has become a place for burning garbage from abroad, mainly from Italy.
Iliev talked about his personal journey in ecology and how his meeting with experts made him rethink the dangers of incineration (waste incineration). He pointed out that in Bulgaria 97% of imported garbage is burned in cement factories and the rest in thermal power plants, with no effective control over toxic emissions.
One of the biggest problems he and his colleagues reflect on is the lack of monitoring of nanoparticles, which can penetrate the human body and cause serious health problems. Photographic evidence from the port of Varna West shows the scale of the problem – huge amounts of waste arriving and being incinerated without full transparency to the public.
The key to the solution, Iliev says, is shining a light on the problem – the more people understand what is happening, the more pressure can be put on institutions to change.
See the full discussion in the video: