Sofia's MBT Waste Processing Plant to Start Operating Monday

A newly-built waste processing plant in Bulgaria's capital Sofia will begin operating on Monday, the city mayor has announced.

The household waste processing facility with a design capacity of 410,000 metric tons per year will produce refuse-derived fuel (RDF) which will be used by the city's heating utility, Toplofikatsiya Sofia. It is expected to reduce the company's use of natural gas by at least 10%.

The new Mechanical-Biological Treatment (MBT) facility costs BGN 218M (EUR 109M). It has successfully passed 72 hours of trial operations and has been issued all permits required, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova told Darik Radio on Saturday.

With the MBT plant ready to enter service Sofia City now has an up-to-date integrated system for treatment of municipal solid waste.

The planned MBT yearly outputs include 123,000 tons of RDF, 60,000 tons of refined MBT compost, 154,000 tons of stabilized bio-waste, and a minimum 4,600 tons of recovered metals.

Other components of the waste management system include a bio-waste composting plant, a garden waste composting site and a non-hazardous waste landfill.

The project's total cost of BGN 345M (EUR172.5) was 84% financed from EU funds and Bulgaria's central government budget, with the remainder contributed by Sofia Municipality incliding a loan from the European Investment Bank.