The Sofia Municipality collected nearly 16 tons of bulky and hazardous waste during the second autumn edition of the “MaGaTa Fest” pop-up initiative in the Poduyane district, according to Deputy Mayor for Ecology Eng. Nikolay Nedelkov. Held over just a few hours at the intersection of “Rezbarska” and “Vasil Kanchev” streets, the neighborhood cleanup campaign yielded 15.6 tons of discarded items cleared from residential basements, garages, and attics.
Waste Breakdown and Community Collection Volumes
Residents in Zone 3—which covers the Slatina, Poduyane, and Izgrev districts—dropped off heavily restricted household refuse at the mobile collection points. The municipal totals included 6 tons of bulky waste such as old sofas, mattresses, and furniture, alongside 4 tons of spent automobile tires. Households also delivered 3.5 tons of waste electrical and electronic equipment, 1 ton of mixed packaging waste encompassing paper, plastic, and metal, 600 kilograms of textiles and footwear, 400 kilograms of household hazardous waste including paints, varnishes, chemicals, and expired medicines, and 100 kilograms of spent batteries and accumulators.
Alongside the physical waste intake, the Sofia Municipality distributed 85 home composting bins to residents who previously submitted applications through the “Compost at Home” campaign, as well as to local yard owners on site. The “Leave and Take” reuse bazaar, operated in partnership with the “Reto – Nadezhda” Association, allowed dozens of residents to exchange well-kept clothing, books, and household goods instead of discarding them. The “For the Earth” association also operated an on-site information desk.
Upcoming Mobile Collection Dates and Permanent Infrastructure
Eng. Nedelkov announced the continuation of the pop-up schedule, pointing to an upcoming mobile station on October 3 in the Slatina district at the parking lot in front of the former “Pliska” hotel, which serves residents from both Slatina and Izgrev. A subsequent mobile point will deploy on October 18 in the Iskar district. While mobile sites offer rapid neighborhood cleanup solutions, municipal officials are simultaneously expanding permanent waste infrastructure through the construction of “Green Islands”—fenced and controlled-access collection yards.
Sofia currently operates 79 such restricted-access facilities across the Nadezhda, Ovcha Kupel, and Ilinden districts. An additional 65 new sites are under construction, bringing expanded waste sorting capacity to the Iskar district as part of a broader municipal strategy to integrate neighborhood collection with long-term infrastructure improvements.