The project will be executed in a joint partnership between the Municipality of Kameno (candidate) and the Municipality of Karnobat (partner). The relations between all partners in the association will be based on the principles of equality, general and personal responsibility and non-discrimination.

The activities of the project envisage the introduction of good practices for sustainable waste management by the countries – Financial Machanism donors of the European Economic Area and specifically Norway, the activities include:

• implementation and management of local deposit systems for the separate collection of packaging waste
• the systems are widespread in Norway and are the basis of the separate collection and recovery of waste in the country

Although the introduction of such a system in Bulgaria is a matter of national legislation, the current project has the ambition to test elements of the concept at the local level by developing a public-private partnership model to stimulate the separate collection of waste. The practice will be implemented remotely in Kameno, as described in the field Implementation plan (activity 4) and field Bilateral cooperation. – the project also implements proven effective practices for the separate collection of waste from households by introducing municipal centers for the handover of separately collected waste.

Main stakeholders in relation to the implementation of the project, attitude and commitments to the implementation: – The municipal administrations of Kameno and Karnobat – According to the Waste Management Act, municipal administrations have obligations to organize and introduce waste management systems on their territory. – Regional Waste Management Association – Burgas region – The municipality of Kameno and the municipality of Karnobat are members of the association and as such are directly related to achieving the goals of the regional association in terms of the prevention, separate collection and utilization of waste. The infrastructure built according to the project will become part of the regional waste management system and all the actions of the municipalities should be coordinated and accordant to the already functioning systems and facilities in the region. On the other hand – members of the association will have access and direct monitoring of the results, achieved in the territories of the two partner municipalities. The achievements of the project have potential and can be implemented on the territory of other municipalities within the framework of the Regional Association for Waste Management. – The population and households on the territory of Kameno and Karnobat municipalities – The population of the municipalities, which are direct users of the schemes for separate collection and recycling of waste introduced under the project. The benefits for the local community from the introduction of the separate collection schemes will improve the quality of life and the state of the environment for all residents of Kameno Municipality and Karnobat Municipality, it will provide an opportunity to reduce the amount of landfilled waste. Local communities also play a key role in the successful implementation of the project. – Representatives of local business on the territory of Kameno municipality – Businesses are key stakeholders in the project’s ambitions to test and introduce a public-private partnership model based on a system of incentives to motivate responsible behavior. The role of local business representatives in the project is looked at in two main directions – as a motivator and active participant in the implementation of sustainable management initiatives and as a target group that should be addressed in order to change behavior and engage with the environmental problems of the territory. – Representatives of local, regional and national media – They play a major role in the overall communication strategy of the project for its promotion, providing information and shaping mindesets.

The project does not predict the creation of a partnership in an organization of the donor countries, but an implementation of good practices, which have proven their efficiency in terms of sustainable waste management systems in Norway: – development, implementation and remote testing of a public-private partnership model between local government and business for the introduction of a system of incentives for consumers of food packaging. The developed model of public-private partnership will be based on the concept of separate collection and delivery of packaging waste from customers to the respective commercial establishments and receiving certain incentives for shopping – discount vouchers, participation in promotional campaigns, etc.After its approval by the District Court, the model will serve to form an agreement for voluntary participation and joint activity between the municipality and local business in support of sustainable waste management. The activity aims at the active involvement of local stakeholders and in particular local business partners in the planning and implementation of local policies for sustainable waste management. As the main source of distribution of packaged food products, local suppliers and food outlets are bound by the obligation to ensure separate collection of the waste generated by their activity and to organize its transport and treatment by people, who have the right to carry out the respective activity for this according to the Waste Management Act. Along with this, the local business has the potential to be engaged in planning and carrying out of initiatives and measures, aimed at customers and users, who directly affect the daily behavior of consumers and at the same time format a “business ecosystem” with a responsible and circular economy-oriented support policy.

The practice is widespread in countries like Norway, which is proud of their waste disposal system, as particularly successful and becoming the basis of the recycling system in the country. The practice is based on the possibility for all manufacturers or importers of packaging to register their products in a deposit system. For that purpose, they pay a certain product fee to an organization for the recovery of packaging waste. For easy identification, each package is labeled with a specific symbol. Consumers can return the packaging to specially designated locations (stores and kiosks), in return for which they receive the product fee they paid at the time of purchase. Local suppliers get their money back from recovery organisations. The practice works well in Norway and is mainly based on established public-private partnership mechanisms. Although the introduction of such a system in Bulgaria is a matter of national legislation, the current project has the ambition to test elements of the concept at the local level by developing a public-private partnership model to stimulate the separate collection of waste. – the project also implements proven effective practices for the separate collection of waste from households by introducing municipal centers for the delivery of separately collected waste. Municipal separate collection centers have proven to be an effective alternative to door-to-door separate collection because they offer the opportunity to deliver a variety of waste types. They are particularly suitable for small settlements and municipalities, allowing assessment and selection of specific local context types of waste and organization. Municipal centers are also successfully combined with concepts for conducting permanent information and training campaigns for the population.

Project budget: 779 629.10 lv. /398 618.03 euro/.
Duration: 24 months.