Municipal solid waste

New developments are unfolding in Greece’s waste management landscape, as landfills are on track to become relics of the past. Waste is now being diverted exclusively toward recycling or biomass production, which can then be converted into energy.

For 2025, the Sofia Municipality has allocated 302,192,935 leva for cleaning and maintenance, marking a 6% increase from the 2024 budget. The proposed funds are set to cover landscaping, upkeep of schoolyards, kindergartens, health and social institutions, as well as cemetery parks.

Over 100,000 load-sized, densified bales of solid waste, which have been a health hazard for nearly a decade, are set to be relocated from the Potoki area of Pyrgos to the Triantafyllia landfill in Ilia, Peloponnese.

In addition to the waste bales, contaminated soil, polluted by urban solid waste, will also be transported to the landfill.

A new law in France has brought the discussion of best practices for waste management in Istanbul to the agenda.

The law, which came into force as of Jan. 1, made it compulsory for citizens to compost food and plant waste.

Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, stands on the edge of a potential waste crisis within the next three years if immediate actions are not taken, as highlighted by an inspection conducted by the new management of the Waste Treatment Distribution Company.

The amount of daily garbage collected in Türkiye's most populous city Istanbul decreased from 18,000 tons to 17,000 tons, as the daily food waste rate experienced a minor 4-percent reduction compared to the previous year, data by a municipal subsidiary has shown.

As trash and debris have piled up alongside the stream in the western province of İzmir's Menderes district that feeds into the Tahtalı Dam, a significant supply of drinking water for the city has come under an alarming threat.

The dumping of garbage and debris next to Tahtalı Stream, flowing into Tahtalı Dam, which meets İzmir's drinking water needs, has caused an outrage.

Eight people were arrested in Thermi, a municipality in southeastern Thessaloniki, on Thursday for environmental pollution. 

In the eastern Black Sea region, the waste and rubbish people leave in high-altitude locations is being washed away into the streams as a result of severe rainfall that is causing landslides and floods, an expert warned.

 Istanbul's Beşiktaş Municipality has announced that it has initiated necessary efforts to place dumpsters underground in order to prevent environmental and visual pollution.