building waste management in bulgaria

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Building waste management in Bulgaria:challenges and opportunities

R. Hadjieva-Zaharievaa, E. Dimitrovab, Francois Buyle-Bodinc,*aBuilding Materials and Insulation Department, The University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy of Sofia,

Blvd Christo Smirnenski 1, 1046 Sofia, BulgariabUrban Planning Department, The University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy of Sofia,

Blvd Christo Smirnenski 1, 1046 Sofia, BulgariacLML, The University of Science and Technology of Lille, Department of Civil Engineering,

Cite Scientifique, 59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq Cedex, France

Accepted 25 February 2003

Abstract

Building waste recycling as aggregates is a modern approach for preventing environmental pollution through both reducing the

stocks of waste and decreasing the use of natural aggregates. The reuse of building waste is a relatively new issue for Bulgaria

despite the existing considerable quantity of building waste and the significant changes in the environmental rules applied. The

paper discusses generated and potential waste streams in Bulgaria in the context of the social and economic restructuring and recent

urban development undergone by the country. The main preliminary conditions for developing the recycling activity such as:

streams of building waste, experience in recycling, technical and environmental standardization, appropriate technologies, etc. are

examined. The authors analyze current practice and research activities with regard to the implementation of advanced EU building-

waste recycling methods. Conclusions are drawn about existing opportunities and the priorities of the needed building waste man-

agement strategy in the country.# 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Building industry unavoidably exerts pressure over

the natural environment as it consumes large quantities

of materials and produces an abundant waste stream by

both construction and demolition. The growing impor-

tance of the sustainability concept in an age that have

started with half the world population living in urban

areas has caused important changes in the attitude to

natural resource consumption in urban development.

Nowadays the ‘use-and-throw-away’ mentality of the

near past is steadily making place for a world-wide

‘recycling’ notion. Recycling, together with the intro-

duction and implementation of environment-friendly or

cleaner technologies, is increasingly pointed out among

the greatest technological challenges of our time (Laur-

itzen, 1993).

Two kinds of materials are to be distinguished within

the building waste (BW) stream—those for re-use and

others destined for abandonment. As the largest part of

BW is coming from concrete (i.e. being of inorganic and

non-toxic nature) it is reasonable to recycle and reuse it.

An inappropriate management of this waste flow would

result in loss of valuable prime materials (natural

resources) and in premature filling of the available

landfill volumes. In most EU countries a qualified re-

cycling process has been developed during the recent

decades which starts with planning a construction or

demolition project, and ends with quality control on re-

processed materials returned to the construction mate-

rial market. To recycle concrete waste as aggregates

(called Recycled Aggregates, RA) is nowadays con-

sidered a modern approach aimed at preventing the

environment from pollution through both reducing the

stocks of waste and decreasing the use of natural

aggregates. During the past 15 years BW recycling has

been intensively developing in a lot of West European

countries, USA and Japan as a profitable industrial

0956-053X/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/S0956-053X(03)00037-0

Waste Management 23 (2003) 749–761

www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +33-3-2043-4610; fax: +33-3-2876-

7331.

E-mailaddress: [email protected] (F. Buyle-Bodin).

http://www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman/a4.3d

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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activity. There is a great number of BW recycling plants

reported in Europe at present—220 in Germany, 120 in

Great Britain, 80 in France, 70 in the Netherlands, 65 in

Belgium, 20 in Denmark, etc. (Hansen, 1992; Lauritzen,

1993; Kasai, 1994; De Pauw, 1994; Hendriks and Pie-

tersen, 2000). National and European regulations

strongly stimulate this activity. For example, accordingto French Law on Waste Elimination and Materials

Recovery (13 July 1992), depositing recyclable waste in

dump sites is forbidden since 2002 (Buyle-Bodin, 1993).

The situation in the countries of Central and Eastern

Europe is quite different. Due to on-going intensive

programs for modernization and reconstruction of

roads, bridges, municipal and industrial structures star-

ted in 1990s, a large amount of BW has been generated.

Yet, recycling activity is nowadays still at a starting

point (Dimitrova and Zaharieva, 2001). Economic con-

straints, lack of technical specification for recycled

materials and considerable conservatism within the

construction industry itself, constitute serious barriersto both recycling activity and RA application (Zahar-

ieva et al., 2000, Dimitrova and Zaharieva, 2001)

At the same time ‘newcomer’ countries in the field of

BW recycling, and Bulgaria as well, face many of the

difficulties of the ‘experienced’ ones (for example, insuf-

ficient information on waste generators, proofing of

data, co-ordination of different partners involved in the

waste management process, etc.) As construction and

demolition waste streams are generally difficult to

quantify, in all countries the total waste quantities

reported are usually a mixture of measured and esti-

mated data. The new laws implementation is particu-larly hampered by difficulties in communication with

local authorities, waste management companies and

policy-makers (Naidenov et al., 1999, Dimitrova and

Hadjieva-Zaharieva, 2002).

Discussing the issues of waste management in Bul-

garia is hereafter regarded as an opportunity to outline

the challenges and chances for applying advanced EU

principles and practice under the peculiar legislative,

social and economic conditions in the country. It could

also provide the basis for further development of useful

ideas on future international co-operation and know-

ledge transfer.

2. General national framework

2.1. Social, economic and spatial processes

The Republic of Bulgaria covers an area of about

111,000 km2 and is situated in the eastern part of the

Balkan Peninsula. It neighbors Romania to the north;

the Black Sea to the east; Turkey and Greece to the

south; Yugoslavia and the Former Yugoslav Republic

of Macedonia to the west (NSI, 2002d).

Bulgaria entered the period of its modern develop-

ment in 1878 after the liberation from the Ottoman

Empire. It faced World War II as a predominantly

agricultural country. In 1939 the rural population com-

prised about 80% of the total population and it was still

about 75% in 1946 (NSI, 2002a). The emphasis of eco-

nomic development put onto heavy industry under cen-trally planned socialism (1948–1989) resulted in the

rapid industrialization and considerable inner migration

flows towards large industrial centers. It also brought

about considerable changes in the life-style of several

generations, in the settlement network and in the settle-

ment structures themselves. The dynamics of the process

was greatest in the 1960s and 1970s when the number of

towns increased twice and the number of their inhabi-

tants—almost 3.5 times (NSI, 2002a). This resulted in

quick and extensive growth of the urban areas and in

the rapid construction of large housing estates of pre-

fabricated elements in the outskirts of cities and large

towns to shelter newcomers. According to official sta-tistics Bulgaria is one of the countries with the highest

dynamics of urbanization in Europe in the period 1950–

1990 (EEA, 1999).

The complex political, social and economic crisis

undergone by the country since 1989 and the new

opportunities for free travelling have caused an emigra-

tion flow of almost 1 million in westward direction. It

has resulted in a stable decrease of population in many

parts of the country but the process of urbanization is

still going on (Fig. 1).

According the latest census in March 2001 the popu-

lation of Bulgaria is reported to be almost 8 million,69% of them living in urban areas. Highly urbanized

territories comprise about 20% of the territory of the

country. There are nine towns with a population over

100,000 out of a total number of 240. The capital city of

Sofia with a population of 1,122,000 inhabitants is fol-

lowed by eight others: Plovdiv (345,000), Varna

(269,000), Bourgas (195,000), Rousse (166,000), Stara

Zagora (148,000), Pleven (121,000), Sliven (105,000) and

Fig. 1. Dynamics in the number of population and the share of urban

population in the period 1887–2001 (NSI, 2002a).

750 R. Hadjieva-Zaharieva et al. / Waste Management 23 (2003) 749–761



Dobrich (100,000). The average population density in

the country is 74.2 inhabitants per km2 (NSI, 2002d).

The regions with highest degree of urbanization are

located around the cities of Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna.

Since 1999 the country is administratively divided into

28 regions and 262 municipalities (President’s Decree, 4

January) (Fig. 2). The general tendency towards decen-

tralization and democratization of public life in thepost-socialist period is the reason for shifting a lot of

new responsibilities from the national to the regional

and local levels. Thereafter the need for building ade-

quate potential at these levels is considered to be a most

pressing one.

2.2. The construction process

The transition period 1989–2002 caused series of

interrelated structural transformations in Bulgarian

society. The privatization of production funds, the res-

titution of land ownership and the restructuring of the

main branches of economy brought about deepeningsocial stratification, new public partnerships and pro-

found changes in both public and private urban space

(Dimitrova and Hadjieva-Zaharieva, 2002).

2.2.1. Existing stock and present state of residential,

industrial and public buildings

There are about 3.5 million dwellings registered in

Bulgaria, the prevailing share of which is erected in the

period 1946–1960 (27.2%), followed by the group of

those erected in the next two periods (18.8% in 1961–

1970, and 14.8% in 1971–1980). The percentage of new

dwellings built in the years after the political changes in

1989 is only 5.5% (Fig. 3) (NSI, 2002c,d).

The dwellings built up to 1960 were predominantly

monolithic low-rise ones (2–4 floors). High-rise build-

ings (6–7 floors) were rather an exception and were

located mainly in larger cities. Mass industrialization of

the residential sector started in 1965–1975 when pre-cast

panels became a priority of housing policy (Fig. 4).Thirty large plants for the production of pre-fabricated

panels were built in the large regional centers of the

country (three of them in Sofia). As a result of this up to

1997 about 120 housing estates of prefabricated panels

were erected, with a total number of 11,000 blocks of

flats and about 740,000 apartments. Most of these

buildings and their installations are estimated to be

considerably worn out and outdated with respect to

present living standard requirements. Experts consider

the need for sanation quite urgent (Romanov, 2002).

Fig. 2. Administrative division of Bulgaria since 1999 (NSI, 2002d).

Fig. 3. Existing dwellings in Bulgaria by year of construction.

R. Hadjieva-Zaharieva et al. / Waste Management 23 (2003) 749–761 751



In the longer term their demolition and gradualreplacement by brand new ones will be one of the

greatest challenges to local and national authorities

(Dimitrova and Hadjieva-Zaharieva, 2002). The same

process could be expected concerning a number of out-

dated, unfinished or abandoned public and industrial

structures (Fig. 5a). A large number of prefabricated

reinforced concrete units have stayed unfinished and

simply abandoned for more than 10 years now (Fig. 5b).

A tendency to decrease the output volume of con-

struction is observed in the period 1995–2001. The

decrease is even greater in 1997 and 1998—about 18%

with reference to 1995. According to preliminary data in2001 the decrease of construction, mounting and rea-

lized building services is 6.5%, compared with 2000, and

10.0%, regarding 1995. During the same period the

relative share of the construction activity of the private

sector is higher than that of the public one. In the first 3

years it has reached 56–57% of the total amount of

realized receipts in construction. In 2001, the private

construction companies realized receipts by 2.1% less

than the previous year. Nevertheless the relative share

of accomplished construction and mounting activities in

the private sector reaches 88.4% and it increases by 3.6

points in comparison with 2000. The growing role of the

private sector could be expected to influence the means

for efficient quality control on construction as well as

the way of formulating the national, regional and localstrategies for building waste recycling (NSI, 2002c).

2.3. Transport infrastructure construction

The total length of the national road network in 2002

is 37,288 km and the average density is 0.33 km2.

Approximately 90% of the roads are with asphalt.

There are 324 km motorways, 3000 km first-grade

roads, 3800 km second-grade roads, 29,900 km third-

and fourth-grade roads. Two-lane roads with overall

width between 6.00 and 7.50 m are most common.

Approximately 2500 km of the first grade roads are part

of the European road network. The following interna-tional roads cross the territory of the country: E80, E79,

E83, E871, E772, E70, E85, E87, E773. A considerable

part of the existing road network badly needs rehabili-

tation, modernization and new development.

The construction of new and the reconstruction of

existing transport facilities is among the most dynami-

cally developing sectors in Bulgaria. The national policy

aimed at joining European and Euro-Atlantic political

structures would require the development of a modern

national transport system adequate to the European

one. Moreover, the strategic location of the country in

the Balkans presupposes that five trans-Europeantransport corridors (No. IV, VII, VIII, IX and X—

Branch C), pass the country.

The National Programme of Transport Sector Devel-

opment also includes the construction and development

of Sofia National Airport and the restructuring, rehabi-

litation and modernization of the rail transport network.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has

elaborated an Investment Programme for Development

Fig. 5. Unfinished and abandoned buildings: (a) industrial building near Sofia; (b) public building near the town of Vidin.

Fig. 4. Panel assembled building.




of the Transport Infrastructure of the country. It com-

prises 36 national investment transport projects, 25 of

which are included in the Middle-term National Invest-

ment Programme of the Government. The investments,

necessary till 2015 are of a total amount of US$

4,890,85 million. The projects are in the field of railway,

combined, road, maritime (sea and inland waterways)and air transport and are situated along the five Pan-

European Transport Corridors, which pass through the

territory of Bulgaria. The funding for these will include

investments by the state budget and other financial

sources such as: taxes on liquid fuels, credits by the

international financial institutions, public–private and

private concessions, etc. (Bulgaria-Country Profile,

2001).

Envisaged new construction activities would require

huge amounts of building materials and aggregates

(crushed stone, gravel stone and sand) in particular. The

experience of developed countries proves that natural

aggregates could be partially substituted in this field byrecycled ones (Hansen, 1992; Kasai, 1994; De Pauw,

1994; Hendriks and Pietersen, 2000). Large quantities of

BW are expected as a result of railway and road net-

work reconstruction. Transportation and landfilling of

that waste could have a serious negative effect on the

environment. BW recycling would be an opportunity to

effectively solve these problems.

3. BW management in the country—current state

3.1. Environmental policy and legislation

The frame for the modern environmental legislation

in Bulgaria has been set with the adoption of the

Environmental Protection Act in 1991. The act revised

the system of environmental standards and introduced

the ‘polluter pays’ principle, the right of the public to be

informed and the prevention principle. In recent years a

large number of legal documents were adopted to reg-

ulate the relations between different sectors dealing with

the environment. The changes in legislation were aimed

at both reflecting the new socio-economic conditions in

the country and transposing EU environmental laws in

Bulgarian legislation in the EU accession process.The administrative levels responsible for the imple-

mentation of environmental policy comprise the Minis-

try of Environment and Water (MOEW), its regional

bodies (15 Regional inspectorates, four basin Divisions,

Directorates of National Parks) and 262 municipalities.

The national legislative basis for waste management in

force comprises the Act on Limitation of the Harmful

Impact of Waste on the Environment, passed in 1997

with the respective regulations. There are eight regula-

tions in force, in compliance with the EU directives, i.e.

75/442/EEC on waste and Decision 94/3/EC; Proposal

for a directive on Landfill of waste (COM/97/105), etc.

(MOEW, 2001).

Until 1999 a number of consecutive cabinets in Bul-

garia with different political orientation, have tried to

find ways of sustaining development (MOEW, 1999a).

A new National Strategy for the Environment (NSE)

and Action Plan for the period 2000–2006 have beenelaborated. The outlined main objectives related to

waste management are:

prevention and reduction of waste generation;

environmentally sound waste disposal; and

re-use and recycling of waste materials (increased

amount of recycled waste by 20% in 2005 and by

30% in 2010; increased number of waste types

collected for recycling and re-use, construction of

new facilities for waste recycling (MOEW,

1999b).

However they are generally slowly and often ineffec-tively put into practice despite the stable growth of

reported expenditures on acquisition of assets designed

for the environment and those on maintenance and

exploitation grow considerably in recent years (Fig. 6).

The expenditures on waste management in 2000 were

22% of the total expenditures on environmental pro-

tection and rehabilitation. A more detailed review of

statistical data reveals that only 0.5% have been spent

on building waste (Fig. 7) (NSI, 2002b). Being non-toxic

and relatively harmless from environmental point of

view. BW materials are considered less problematic than

other waste and the issue of their treatment is oftenunderestimated. In all the reports and regulations

reviewed BW is mentioned jointly with municipal waste

and the majority of measures envisaged are aimed at the

improvement of municipal waste management. The

existing financial conditions in for waste management in

the country could be hardly estimated as efficient in

order to stimulate the development of building waste

Fig. 6. Expenditures on environmental protection and rehabilitation.




recycling activities. It still remains economically more

efficient to produce natural aggregates and to deposit or

abandon building waste than to invest in building-waste

recycling. The charges for natural aggregates produc-

tion, for building waste landfilling and for improperwaste storage although increased recently, are not to be

considered an effective instrument to stimulate recycling

yet (Naidenov et al., 1999, Dimitrova and Zaharieva,

2001).

The MOEW budget for 2003 is 173.7 million BGL

(about E82 million). It has been increased 93.2% com-

pared with the current year. There are two priorities

stated in the field of environmental protection—water

and waste management (MOEW, 2002).

3.2. BW streams and quantities

The data on BW quantities generated in recent years

on the national level (Table 1) are provided by two

sources:

1. The Environment 2000 Bulletin and the Statistical

Yearbook of the Republic of Bulgaria, editions

67, 68 and 69 of the National Statistical Institute

(NSI, 2002b,d).

2. Annual Bulletin 1999 and 2000 of the Executive

Environment Agency (EEA), EEA is the Bul-

garian specialized agency performing monitoring,

analytical and laboratory activities for the

Ministry of Environment and Waters and dis-

seminating environmental information. It is a

structure carrying out management of the

National Automatic System for Environmental

Monitoring and a National Reference Center

for the European Environment Agency

(EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria, 2002a,b).

The comparison between the two sets of data is quite

disturbing as they differ significantly.

According to NSI building waste comprises waste

obtained on building sites or as result of demolition or

reconstruction of buildings and facilities, including road

construction (NSI, 2002a). BW is however incorrectly

regarded there as a part of industrial waste as in the Act

on Limitation of the Harmful Impact of Waste on the

Environment is separately classified under No. 17.00.00

(MOEW, 2001). Data are gathered by municipal

administrations being in charge for their management

and concern municipal landfills and specialized BWlandfills. The accuracy problem emerges from the fact

that the exact weighing of landfilled waste quantities is

only possible in certain landfills. That is why the general

practice is to estimate BW quantities on the basis of

transportation reports. In some of the landfills quan-

tities are defined by the degree of filling up the available

volume. For example, in NSI Bulletin on the Environ-

ment in 2000, 329,070 m3 of BW are reported in specia-

lized BW landfills (NSI, 2002c).

The data of EEA probably reflect real BW quantities

more precisely. In 1997, a nation-wide database (DB) of

municipal solid and construction waste was created inEEA. In the same year, a software product was elabo-

rated and introduced for information processing. Since

1995, in some Regional Inspectorates of Environment

and Waters (RIEW) local DBs have been functioning

with software products to operate the DB on a regional

level. The monitoring of municipal solid waste and BW

waste within MOEW system covers the residential

areas where the main part of the population is con-

centrated. According to MOEW experts, an improve-

ment is observed in the quality of the reported

information on municipal solid waste and construction

waste for the period 1997–1999, due to the following

reasons:

the application software for information proces-

sing requires correct data;

the municipal administrations consider more

seriously their responsibilities for the preparation

of reports and information documents on waste

management activities; and

RIEW apply more stringent control, in accor-

dance with waste standards and regulations

applicable in the country (EIONET-EEA-Bul-

garia, 2002a).

Fig. 7. Share of expenditures on detoxification and utilization of

waste resulted from different economic activities.

Table 1

Reported quantities of building waste in Bulgaria

Year Building waste, kt

Data source NSI Data source EEA

1995 546 No data

1996 485 No data

1997 370 1140

1998 410 1043

1999 No data 1343

2000 484 746




Statistical data of EEA shows that in 1997–2000 the

average annual amount of generated BW waste per

capita was 100–170 kg. Compared to the data for the

EU countries (200–450 kg/per year/per capita of build-

ing waste (EEA, 1999), the problem of BW management

in Bulgaria could be underestimated. The expert assess-

ment of the total building waste amount for 2000 issignificantly higher.

It is not possible to outline a clearly expressed ten-

dency of BW decrease or increase based on statistical

data. Although the information collected after 1998 is of

higher quality, compared to previous years, a great part

of BW is not taken into consideration. For example, the

reported quantities of construction waste in 2000 are

44% less than those for 1999 (EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria,

2002b). The possible reasons for that considerable dif-

ference may on the one hand be due to information

gaps—less municipalities have submitted data of con-

struction waste during the period under review, and on

the other hand—omissions related to landfill exploita-tion—in many cases the municipal administrations

report jointly construction waste, earth masses and inert

waste, and no quantitative evaluation is possible for the

collected construction waste. In addition, the lack of

effective application of the environmental laws causes

an increase of fly-tipping (Fig. 8). As a final result the

exact quantity of building waste cannot be defined.

Effective BW management should also take into con-

sideration territorial non-uniformity of the processes.

Average national data usually provide only general

information as in highly industrialized regions a lot of

buildings are demolished or reconstructed, thus the BW

quantities produced are considerably above the average

ones for the country. In reality 83% of the constructionwaste in the country is generated in the cities with

population over 30,000 (EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria,

2002b). A typical example is provided by the data

reported by RIEW in the region of Pazardjik where in

1999 the quantity of BW is 2968 kg per capita as a result

of the demolition of the large copper-processing

Assarel–Medet Complex. The average quantity in the

country for the same period is 170 kg per capita. At the

same time the quantities reported by RIEW in the

region of Montana (in the northwestern part of the

country) are only 14 kg per capita.

The so-called ‘hidden’ waste, consisitng mainly of

produced but rejected and not used prefabricated con-crete units (panels), remains unreported as well. An

enormous quantity of such materials is stored in the

warehouses throughout the country (Fig. 9). For exam-

ple, the municipal company ‘‘Domostroene’’ (‘‘Home-

building’’), in Sofia which is a successor of six former

building companies, owns more than 150,000 tons of

rejected panels (Naidenov et al., 1999). Finding a solution

Fig. 8. Fly-tipping BW in the vicinities of Sofia.




to the problem of abandoned unused pre-cast building

panels should be considered one of the greatest oppor-

tunities of the nearest future. On one hand, being

homogeneous, with almost no impurities and made of high-quality concrete, they are BW of an exceptionally

high recycling potential and the RA produced would

have a wide field of application. On the other hand, up

to 1989 each of the 30 regional centers in the country

has had a panel production plant. At present neither of

them is working as such. They have been privatized and

transformed into construction companies. The new

owners would gladly discharge their warehouses from

the panels stored and they also need aggregates for new

construction activity.

Hidden BW also comprise those obtained by rejection

of low-quality production in plants producing small-sizebuilding elements (ceramic bricks, blocks and tiles,

concrete masonry units and pavement elements, etc.).

Due to the outdated technologies applied, the share of

rejected elements is too high. The view of enormous

waste heaps of such elements around the plants is quite

a usual view (Fig. 10).

As mentioned in Section 2.2. the exploitation period

of prefabricated housing estates from 1960s and 1970s is

coming to an end and the need for their gradual sub-

stitution with modern ones would suppose the appear-

ance of enormous BW quantities in future decades due

to the considerable construction volume of that kind inBulgaria.

Abandoned and unfinished industrial and public

buildings in the countryside, up in the mountains or in

the cities and towns, which have been submitted to

destruction for the recent decade and could be no more

reinforced and restored should be considered another

potential source of BW. The favorable aspect of these

waste sources is related to the fact that the demolition

methods applied could be simplified and the RA

obtained would be of relatively good quality as usually

the reinforced-concrete skeleton alone has left out of the

buildings.

3.3. The practice of land filling

Up to the present moment the only way of BW treat-

ment in Bulgaria, as in most of the ‘transition’ coun-

tries, is landfilling. In DB, data on waste landfill

locations, their areas, quantities of collected waste, set-

tlement serviced and their population, etc. are stored.

Fig. 9. Unused pre-cast panels stored in the warehouse near the town of Smolian.

Fig. 10. Heaps of rejected ceramic bricks by the plant in Dragovishtitsa.




The National Environment Monitoring System main-

tains a Register of Landfills and Old Polluted Sites

(RLOPS). In the RLOPS, all municipal solid wastelandfills are entered, each with its unique number, for all

towns, some villages—municipal centers, village land-

fills servicing several settlements and the known devoted

construction waste landfills. In 2000, 284 landfills and

old polluted sites are reported. They occupy a total area

of 832.8 ha of which old polluted sites occupy an area of

167.9 ha. In most cases landfills for BW and earth mas-

ses are abandoned quarries, bogged areas, eroded

embankment and other negative landscape forms, and

occupy a total area of 113 ha (Fig. 11) (EIONET-EEA-

Bulgaria, 2002b).

In recent years it has become more difficult to open

new landfills as tighter environmental controls have

been introduced. With the purpose of land reclamation,

apart of construction waste, also earth masses from

earth excavation works and inert industrial waste are

disposed on BW landfills. For example, on the BW

landfill of Padina, Avren municipality, constructionwastes from the enterprises of Devnia industrial com-

plex (near Varna) are deposited—70.161 tons. The rest

of the construction waste—292.223 tons—are disposed

on municipal solid-waste landfills (EIONET-EEA-Bul-

garia, 2002a).

The set of BW landfills is not well developed. That is

why, in 1999, only 78% of reported quantity of BW is

deposited in 36 specialized landfills for construction

waste and earth masses, the rest quantities are landfilled

together with municipal waste. (Fig. 12) (EIONET*-

EEA-Bulgaria, 2002b). This should be estimated as

inefficient for two reasons. Firstly, municipal landfills

require higher investments than BW ones because of thehigher environmental risks. Secondly, usually landfilled

without preliminary crushing, BW need comparatively

large space. The situation is particularly problematic

around some of the largest cities of the country (Sofia,

Russe, Pleven) as they generate huge BW quantities but

there are no specialized landfills. Even in the new

Development Plan of Sofia where the Environmental

Impact Assessment is strongly focused upon, building

waste issues are not considered explicitly.

The control over landfilling is not sufficient either:

according to the data submitted by the Regional

Fig. 11. Shares of the landfills areas and old polluted sites (by area).

Fig. 12. Percentage of building waste deposited in specialized BW landfills and in municipal waste landfills in 1999.




Environment and Water Centers, 95% of the BW

landfills are practically not controlled, so there is no

reliable data concerning the stream composition

(EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria, 2002a).

There are some cases, although quite rare, of building

waste applied in operating municipal waste landfills.

Some types of BW, e.g. those of the construction mate-rial production, are used in road construction and in

soil re-cultivation (EIONET-EEA-Bulgaria, 2002a).

In NSE recycling waste plants have been suggested as

an alternative to landfills (MOEW, 1999b), but they are

still expensive to construct and costly to run. Particu-

larly in cases of BW already mixed with other kinds of

waste, recycling is either very costly activity or impos-

sible. That is why current research on BW recycling

should focus on future BW streams rather than on

already landfilled BW.

4. Recycling as an alternative approach

4.1. Technical, technological and economic aspects

Recycled building materials are generally directed to

two areas of use: secondary construction materials with

the same demands on quality as required for primary

building materials (i.e. base courses in road construc-

tion, concrete aggregates), and recycling groups with

lower requirements (i.e. structure back-filling, parking

spaces, etc.).

The use of coarse RA as partial or total substitution

for natural coarse aggregates is becoming usual forordinary concrete (Hansen, 1992; De Pauw, 1994; Hen-

driks and Pietersen, 2000). It is also usual to apply

industrially recycled aggregates for manufacturing con-

crete products (Zaharieva et al., 2000; Sagoe-Crentsil et

al., 2001; Olorunsogo and Padaychee, 2002). Recently,

the need to demolish structures with high performance

concrete, (for example, building frames or bridge

beams, provided the source of a new generation RA and

stimulated the manufacturing of structural recycled high

performance concrete (Limbachiya et al., 2000, Ajdu-

kiewicz and Liszczewicz, 2002).

The legal rules for definition and utilization of RA

differ from country to country. The implementation of RA in road construction is ruled either by specifications

(in Netherlands and Denmark), or by recommendations

(in USA, Germany, Japan and the former USSR)

(Hansen, 1992; Kazai, 1994; Hendriks and Pietersen,

2000, Eikelboom et al., 2001) The new EN standard for

concrete aggregates (prEN 12620: Aggregates for con-

crete, July 2000) considers RA as conventional aggre-

gates and defines their use in accordance with their

characteristics.

Bulgarian legislation regarding the definition and use

of concrete aggregates addresses predominantly natural

aggregates. Artificial concrete aggregates (RA should be

classified in this group) are just mentioned; light-weight

aggregates and those for special use (i.e. for heavy con-

crete, etc.) are particularly a subject of explicit legal

regulation. Yet, the lack of legal regulation on artificial

aggregates should not be considered a serious obstacle

to the initiation of RA production. Actually at presentall the standardization in the building activity field is in

the process of change, the general trend of the reform

being to come closer to European norms (EN). For

instance the main part of EN standards are simply

translated into Bulgarian and indicated as BSS EN

(Bulgarian State Standard). The use of materials for

which no corresponding BSS exists could be permitted

in accordance with an existing European Standard for

such cases.

Approaches to recycling technologies differ with

regard to BW origin and constitution and concern

mainly the methods for removal of impurities—pre-

liminary grading, magnetic pulling off of metallic waste,and separation of light materials such as wood, paper,

plastics, etc. by hand, by flotation or by air cyclone. The

technologies applied are classified in three groups:

Selective recycling is applied for previously

selected homogeneous waste (bricks, concrete). It

is suitable for the recycling of large elements of

building structures, masonry solids, etc.

Recycling in situ is an approach applied to

minimize the cost of transportation, for instance

in the road construction. Mobile installations are

convenient but they have a limited capacity forremoving harmful impurities.

Industrial recycling is performed in specialized

recycling plants; the RA produced are of superior

quality, due to the application of multiple

methods for the removal of impurities; plants are

however comparatively expensive and could be

efficient in cases of large and stable BW flows.

Besides its environmental positive effect, building

waste recycling has proved to be also economically rea-

sonable, particularly when the recycling facilities are

located nearby large urban areas with intense construc-

tion activities and a relative shortage of natural aggre-gates, when great quantities of building waste are

produced and the evacuation of the waste materials is

difficult. Mobile plants are almost fourth times cheaper

than industrial plants. (Hansen, 1992). It has been esti-

mated that in order to be competitive at the market, RA

should be cheaper than the natural ones. Hence, the

competitiveness of RA depends on the level of price of

natural aggregates as well as on the level of fees paid for

depositing the building wastes. The price of natural

aggregates in Bulgaria is contiguously increasing as the

number of the carriers for their production is decreasing




due to various considerations: economic (equipment

amortization); administrative (problems with land

property) and environmental (increasing taxes on pro-

duction in order to reduce pressure on the environ-

ment). Although Bulgaria has considerable resources of

natural aggregates, there are several regions, especially

in the northeastern part of the country and around thelarge cities, which face a shortage of concrete aggre-

gates. The aggregates supply in those regions leads to

increase in the price of the concrete due to transporta-

tion expenditures. Because of the high fuel price and

relatively old trucks used in the construction sector,

transportation costs can be up to two times higher than

the production costs of NA. For example, in the region

of Sofia the production cost of NA (crushed stone) is

5.22 BGL (about E2.6)/m3, while the transportation

costs from Balsha Quarry to Sofia (about 36 km) are

6.21 BGL (about E3.1)/m3 (Naidenov et al., 1999).

During the process of preparation of a financial pro-

ject within the ‘‘Science for Peace’’ Programme (1997– 1998 À.), the expenditures for a mobile installation and

the equipment of a test laboratory on the territory of a

house-building plant in Sofia (plot, buildings, trucks,

hydraulic cutters, etc.) are estimated to be about

E200,000. A total sum of about E430,000 was envisaged

for the integral project aimed at the creation af the basis

for such an activity in Bulgaria, including the produc-

tion of a certain RA amount, its characterization and

initial experimental application in the process of con-

struction (Naidenov et al., 1999).

Deposition taxes in Bulgaria are still comparatively

low [about 5.00 BGL(E

2.5)/m3

] but due to the increas-ing concern for the environmental protection a tendency

of increasing it is expected. Danish experience could be

applied about the levy of a landfill tax on BW. Partly

due to the tax and partly due to the use of other instru-

ments, the rate of recycling of BW increased from less

than 20% in 1990 to about 90% in 1999 (Hendriks and

Pietersen, 2000).

4.2. Practical experience

Notwithstanding that nowadays Bulgaria is just

facing the problem of BW reuse, some initial activities

in the country are worth mentioning. In 1995, IngstroyLtd—a construction company in Sofia, has acquired

some experience in crushing, sieving and reusing con-

crete BW (produced from precast concrete products.

More than 200 t of concrete panels were recycled by

using a standard crusher in Balsha quarry. The aggre-

gates were reused in low-strength concrete mixes with-

out any special investigation. REC, a Bulgarian—

Moravian company has built an installation for railway

crushed stone recycling, the products obtained were

applied in railway construction again. The installation

is assembled in the plot of an abandoned industrial

complex about 60 km from Sofia. The company has

declared an ambition for further development by con-

crete waste recycling but up to the present day only a

limited set of activities in this direction have been

undertaken (Naidenov et al., 1999).

4.3. Research activities

The scientific problems related to the reuse of concrete

BW have been discussed in different periods by different

research institutions—Bulgarian Academy of Sciences,

Scientific-Research Institute of Construction, etc.

In 1996, a research collaboration has been initiated

between the Central Laboratory of Physico-Chemical

Mechanics (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) and the

‘‘Materials and Structures’’ Group (North of France)

lead by Professor Buyle-Bodin. The joint research

activity is focused on investigating the properties of

industrially produced recycled aggregates and the specific

features of recycled aggregate concrete. The methodo-logical and technical results could be particularly useful

for further research in Bulgaria (Naidenov et al., 1999,

Zaharieva et al., 2000, Buyle-Bodin and Hadjieva-

Zaharieva, 2002).

A pilot project, called ‘‘Recycled Concrete Aggregates’’,

on producing of RA from rejected panels in Bulgaria, has

been prepared for participation in NATO programme

‘‘Science for Peace’’ (1997–1998). The key Bulgarian par-

ticipants were the municipal Domostroene Company in

Sofia and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, with the com-

mitment of Ministry of Environment and Water Resour-

ces and the Municipality of Sofia. The French partnerswere Universities in northern France, Krupp Hazemag

Group and RMN recycling company. The project could

not win financing because of its relatively high value, which

exceeded the limits of the NATO program. However, it

was highly appreciated by the target groups including leg-

islative institutions, local authorities, developers, con-

struction companies, etc. (Naidenov et al., 1999).

A current research project titled ‘‘Appropriate Appli-

cation Fields of Recycled BW’’ is partially supported by

the Research and Design Center at the University of

Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Sofia

(Contract No. BN 4/2001). It is aimed at defining the

field of rational RA application with respect to theprinciples of sustainable urban development. Taking

into consideration the technical feasibility and the nor-

mative framework of the process, BW recycling is situ-

ated within the wider context of environmental,

economic and social regards. The interdisciplinary team

consists of urban planners, economists, architects and

civil engineers. The research results will be addressed to

a broad set of final users involved in planning and

management at the local, regional and national level

and also in all the stages of the construction process

(Dimitrova and Hadjieva-Zaharieva, 2002)




5. Conclusions

Sustainable urban development needs the considera-

tion of two interconnected objectives—the possibility to

improve the quality of urban life and to decrease the

pressure on the environment through rational resource

management. Addressing both, building-waste manage-ment can be regarded as an effective way towards a

more sustainable path of development.

The importance of the building waste recycling issue

in the countries ‘in transition’ is defined by the existence

of considerable quantities of accumulated waste materi-

als not properly treated and the expected tendencies of

increasing the building waste amount.

The raising of ecological awareness with the on-going

changes in legislation in the pre-accession period aimed

at harmonization with EU environmental protection

and waste management policy have already created the

favorable framework of the process in Bulgaria.

Several prospects for the development of an effectivebuilding-waste recycling management in Bulgaria can be

outlined.

In the short-term a favorable opportunity for the

beginning of a recycling process is provided by the

existence of unused reinforced concrete panels closed to

old pre-cast installations and housing scheme because of

several advantages:

Simple recycling technology—there is only need

of panel crushing and aggregate grading, there-

fore selective recycling and recycling in situ by a

mobile plant can be applied. High performance of RA: waste is homogenous,

primary concrete has satisfactory mechanical

characteristics and there are no significant

impurities, so RA can be used for different pur-

poses, including concrete manufacturing.

No transport costs: waste disposal, recycling and

reuse are executed at the same place. It can be

supposed that the price of these RA will be

considerably lower than the price of crushed

natural stone. In addition, when certain stock of

panels is recycled, the mobile plant can be moved

to another region.

It is a good starting point for a recycling process

based on mobile plants, which are up to four times

cheaper than the stationary ones and thus an efficient

option for SME development. The valorisation of pro-

duced RA could start by use in road-construction or in

construction of small pre-cast elements. One of the main

obstacles to the development the building-waste re-

cycling industry—the lack of capital—could be over-

come by attracting foreign investment.

A trans-disciplinary research approach in the field of

BW management could effectively contribute for the

elaboration of long-term regional and municipal devel-

opment recycling strategies and programs. The pro-

cesses of demolition and new construction should be

interrelated within integral urban policies.

An international co-operation in the field of building

waste management could support both processes: the

import of European know-how and equipment in thefield of recycling to CEE and the export of expertise on

the specific situation in the Balkans region that would

facilitate the practical implementation of advanced

methods and approaches in waste management.

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