BIA: Hundreds of recycling companies face bankruptcy

Raya Atanasova

"Banning the sites for purchasing of scrap from ferrous and nonferrous metals, electrical and electronic equipment, automobiles and batteries on 77% of Bulgaria's territory will not stop the thefts and the functioning of the informal sector in this branch," said yesterday Temenuzhka Kostova, Chairperson of the Bulgarian Association of Recycling (BAR). According to the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA), the operation of hundreds of recycling companies will be endangered, while this kind of activity is being supported in the EU. The business in ferrous and nonferrous metal scrap is estimated at between BGN650-850 mln.

Under the amendments to the Waste Act adopted by Parliament yesterday, sites for purchasing of ferrous and nonferrous metal scrap may exist only in settlements with approved general development plans and 77% of the municipalities do not have such plans. This will render all scrap yards on these territories illegal.

"The amendments are aimed at drastically reducing the number of scrap yards," Deputy Minister of Environment and Water Evdokia Maneva commented for Klassa. "Businesses did nothing to help reduce the cases of thefts of railroad rails, cables, cultural monuments, etc. The amendments will force scrap yards to move outside of residential areas," added Maneva.

"We object to the fact that a whole business will be banned due to the lack of control," said Kostova. "It is not right an entire branch to suffer losses because some municipalities have not done their work, i.e. they have not drafted their general development plans," she stated. "Reducing the number of scrap sites from 2,400 to 400 will increase the cost of transportation," she explained.

"This measure will not stop the thefts and the functioning of the informal sector in the branch because the scrap is of no value for thieves, while the legally operating companies do pay for it," said Politimi Paunova, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Association of Metallurgical Industry.

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