Project Partner’s meeting in Bulgaria

Bulgarian Association of Recycling, CircPro’s Bulgarian partner, hosted on the 18th and 19th of February 2020, in Sofia, a 2-day event that gathered multiple partners and stakeholders.

“Good practices and challenges in recycling – WEEE and other materials” roundtable took place during the first day of the fourth partner meeting. The event was attended by more than 100 guests, representatives of recycling companies, environmental experts, representatives of European and Bulgarian institutions. Among them were the Honorary Director of the European Commission and Chairman of the Espoo Convention Bureau – Mr. George Kremlis, a representitive of The Environment Directorate – Genereal of the European Commission – Mr. Jose Jorge Diaz DEL CASTILLO, Mr. Borislav Malinov – Chairman of BAR, Minister of Environment and Waters – Mr. Emil Dimitrov, Deputy Minister of Environment and Waters of Bulgaria – Mr. Krasimir Zhivkov, Ms. Ivelina Vassileva – Chairperson Environmental and Water Committee, Mr. Louis Ollion – Technical Officer of EuRic and many others.

Some of the topics of the presentations were: „Circular Procurement, WEEE Recycling“, ”New moments in environmental policy and legislation: green deal, new CEAP, end-of-waste.“, „WEEE recycling standarts and practices for eco design“. Opportunities for recycling were discussed during the first panel of the roundtable. Еach partner country presented good practices for recycling and circular procurement: „CircPro Good Practices: Andalusia Remanufacture printing equipment experience“, „Smart Circular Procurement. Project Reuse Personal Computers“, „Smart Circular Procurement, the best practices in Municipality of Gabrovo“, „Current situation on EEE in procurements in Lithuania“, „Regional polices in WEEE Management in REMTH“, „Current status of the EEE procurements in Kouvola and possible future developments“.

On the second day a study visit to NADIN (WEEE treatment facility near Sofia) took place. The main objective of the study visit was to understand how the concept of circular economy can be integrated into the procedures of a company and to get to know all the activities that the company implements in terms of Circular Procurement. Nadin prevents production of wastes and re-enters them into the production cycle by recycling their components.

Also, a partner and project group meeting was held during the second day. Finance, administration and expected results were discussed. Topics related to action plan development, communication issues and other issues were mentioned too.