If a Single Life is Saved,
All Efforts Are Worth

The combustion of waste materials happens at 800 degrees,
while it should be at over 1,100, to avoid the emission of hazardous dioxin and furan

Diana Bancheva

At a press conference in Sofia, the National Movement “Ecoglasnost, Association “EcoMramor” and environmental association “Vrabnitsa – Nadezhda” presented data obtained under the APIA about the combustion of the Sofia garbage in the cement plant “Holcim – Bulgaria” JSC in the village of Beli Izvor. The Chairperson of “Ecoglasnost” Peter Penchev explains why the environmental and civil organizations are against the incinerating technology.

What triggered your interest towards “Holcim”?

“Holcim – Bulgaria” JSC is based in Switzerland. In Bulgaria, it purchased two cement plants – in the village of Beli Izvor and in the city of Pleven. They have built good filters, the filed around Beli Izvor is no white any more. The roofs of the building in the village used to be always salted with cement. In 2008, during the public discussion of the Environmental Impact Assessment of the Sofia waste management project, the waste combustion in the cement plants was mentioned as an agreement between the Sofia Municipality and the cement plants in Beli Izvor, Zlatna Panega and Devin. At that time, 100% of the civil environmental organizations were against the technology that ended with combustion in the cement plants. In 2009, the Austrian Information Agency announced that waste products from Austria were being burned in the cement plants in Bulgaria. We instantly sent a letter to the European Commission and to the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office. The investigation was assigned to the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime. They had to collect documents from “Holcim” and the Ministry of Environment and Waters (MEW).

Why are you against the combustion technology?

Back in 2007, the head of the department "Protection of clean air, hazardous chemicals and risk management" at the Regional Inspection on Environment and Waters – Sofia said that the garbage will be burned at 850 degrees. This is below the temperature prescribed in a Regulation under the Clean Air Law in Bulgaria. It provides that when there are chlorinated elements, the temperature should be above 1,100 degrees in order to limit the emission of dioxins and furans. They are hazardous for the health. That is why in December 2008, when discussing the EIA, we requested that the assessment also encompass the combustion. Thus, the problems would have been identified at that time, and not to learn about them in a roundabout way.

What is this roundabout way?

We used the Access to Public Information Act. For the first time we addressed the Sofia city Prosecution with APIA requests. Shortly after we filed the request, we had a phone call from the prosecutor in charge of the investigation about the combustion of the Austrian garbage. He said that as an author of the letter initiating the investigation, he would provide complete access to the documents in-house, and a copy of particular pages. After reviewing the documents in-house, I filed a second request under the APIA with a list of the documents I demanded. I was granted access to the documents and was not incurred the costs for the copying. I will present the documents to the European Commission since they have also started their investigation on the Austrian garbage. We sent a letter to the prosecution requesting the resumption of the investigation on the base of the presented documents.

What are these documents containing?

According to the information, the waste in Austria is combusted at 1,400 degrees Celsius. The letter of the Austrian party to the Ministry of Environment and Waters says that the combustion should be done in a kiln clinker at 1000-2000 degrees. The flame of the burner is at 2000 degrees, but the clinker acquires a temperature of 1450 degrees. The flowsheet signed by the Executive Director of "Holcim" Todor Kostov states that the solid waste, including tires, are submitted in a subsequent phase of the process when the temperature is explicitly given as 850 degrees, but in practice, the solid waste is burned at 800 degrees.

What other information did you obtain from the Prosecutor’s Office?
 
The technological flow chart of the garbage combustion in the “Holcim” plant. If we had requested the information, they would have refused accesson the ground of trade secret, as they did in a case related to the Nuclear Power Plant “Kozloduy.” We have litigated then and won. We would probably have won in the current case as well, but it would have taken much time. Now, we have received the information within 14 days after the filing of the request.  We are grateful to the Prosecutor’s Office for that reaction. Maybe they have recognized us not as environmental terrorist as the nuclear power plant presented us, but as conscious people who are helping the force enforcement bodies to protect the rights of the citizens. Even more, they provided access to two contracts with municipal companies which are transporting the waste from Sofia to the “Holcim” plant – Ekobulsort and Chistota Iskar.
We found another trade secret – the technology for separation and double pressing of the waste in “Holcim” had costed 3.8 million Euro. Then we would ask, why the project for the same installation in the village of Gara Yana would cost 180 million Euro according to the proposals?

What is the environmental crime that you were warning about at the press conference?

The Regulation I mentioned sets forth the minimum of 1,100 degrees Celsius and the Austrians recommend that the combustion should be held at 1,450 degrees. At the same time, the technological flow chart and the documents we have obtained under the APIA prove that the solid substances are burnt at 800 degrees. We reminded that due to the issues related to the waste management in Sofia, the European Commission started a procedure against Bulgaria in the European Court. This means that there is a crime. The sad thing is that the proceedings are against the state, and not against the responsible officials, and that all of the Bulgarians will pay for that. We call for the ceasing of fraud and hiding. In the case of the waste management in Sofia, the deceit comes from the imitation of a sorting sites in the neighborhoods of Suhodol and Trebich and the construction of an imaginary waste management plant at the cost of 160 million Euro. It will only sort the waste and will leave even more waste behind. While the combustion in the cement plants is also impossible since the temperature at the furnaces is 800 degrees.

Why is not “Holcim” complying with the requirements for 1,100 degrees?
 
These are plants for the production of cement, not for waste management. They do not want to ruin their technology. The European Union indeed allows the combustion of waste but under specific conditions. Anything else is a crime for us.

Did you requested any information from the Ministry of Environment and Waters about the case?

A month and a half ago. We already knew that the burning temperature was indeed 850 degrees. We requested the Minister of Environment to step in.  We presented the documents to the Minister and to the Sofia Mayor as well. We insisted that the two ladies study well the facts and undertake measures regarding the technology. However, the Ministry is still silent.

Who is paying for that technology?

The citizens by their garbage collection taxes. They are much higher than the property taxes. But above all, we pay with our health. Every year, the number of patients with cancer is increasing. Not to speak of the people who die of that disease. What motivates the National movement Ëcoglasnost” is that if we manage to save a single life, then the battle is worth.

Who are the officials responsible for the “Holcim” case?

Since 2005 to the current moment – the former mayor Boyko Borisov. He refused to even listen to our demands that the technology should be rejected. The second responsible is the director of “Holcim.” Within April 1, 2008 and the beginning of August 2008, 10,000 tons of Austrian waste was burned in the plant. They stopped doing it because they started burning the waste of Sofia. On the base of the data from the contracts we obtained, 120,000 tons of waste have been burned in the plant for the past three years 

What is the level of pollution after the combustion?

The Regional Inspections on Environment and Water do not measure the levels of dioxins and furans because there is no equipment in Bulgaria. Since 2005, the Regional Inspection – Vratsa has been measuring the levels of pollutants once a year but the two components are not included.

How can we assess the level of pollution if there is no measurement?

We received a statement from the National Center for the Protection of Public Health at the Ministry of Healthcare. On the grounds of a report of that Center, which ”Ecoglasnost” presented in Brussels, a procedure was started against violations related to pollution in the village of Galabovo and the city of Stara Zagora. The Center provided us with the results from a screening on the children’s health in the region. Every sixth boy was born with one testicle.  The sick rate in the region is  three times higher than in other places. Brussels was impressed by the results and the procedure was initiated. The Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office renewed the prosecution after we presented the report. As a result of a study of the related documents in the Ministry of Healthcare, the Center draws the conclusion that there is no coordination regarding the combustion of waste in the plant in Devin. By the way, we were told that the disclosure of the statement costed the firing of the officials who had provided it to us. We sent the statement to the Prosecutor’s Office, as it was not contained in the files we had received under the APIA. We provided a new documents to help the prosecution and underlined the important fact that we learned under the APIA – the 800 degrees combustion, and the two contracts for transportation of the Sofia waste to the cement plant. We will send the statement to Brussels as well. We expect the European Commission to react and bring the case with the Sofia waste management to the end as it did with the cases of Galabovo and Stara Zagora.

So, the dialogue with the Prosecutor’s Office via the APIA was successful?

Yes. I always emphasize that the court is copying the arguments that we present in the access to information cases, prepared with the assistance of the attorneys Alexander Kashumov and Kiril Terziiski. APIA is our only weapon. The results are proving it.

May 2010

This case is part of the book "Civil Participation and Access to Information (15 Years of the APIA, 37 stories of NGOs)" published by AIP within the implementation of the project “Enhancing the Capacity of Nongovernmental Organizations to Seek Public Information” supported with a grant under the NGO Programme in Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2009 – 2014 (www.ngogrants.bg).

The whole responsibility for the content shall be taken by the Access to Information Programme Foundaiton and it cannot be assumed under any circumstances that the document reflects the official stance of the  Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Operator of the Programme for NGO support in Bulgaria.