5000 tons of expired pesticides will be destroyed!

The Ministry of Environment and Water officially announced that a decision has been made to destroy 5,000 tons of pesticides with expired shelf life, which are located in 288 warehouses across the country. The highest concentration is in the territories of the Plovdiv, Vratsa, Yambol, Kardzhali, and Smolyan regions. The information from the environmental agency does not make it clear whether the toxic chemicals are stored and guarded according to the relevant regulations and rules to ensure safety. But in any case, this environmental "ticking bomb" has been ticking for over 25 years and poses a real threat of very serious consequences, of large-scale pollution of soils and waters.

What are the parameters of the decision to eliminate these hotspots of environmental catastrophe? The Swiss government is granting Bulgaria 23 million francs (about 30 million euros) in targeted non-repayable aid. The financial resource will be used to transport the hazardous products in special containers to a corresponding facility in another country, where they will be incinerated. The deadline for the project's completion is 2019.

Two facts stand out in this story. For a quarter of a century, the Bulgarian state did not find the money or the will to solve the problem, despite the dangers it generates. All attempts, and there have been such attempts over the years, to design and build a special incinerator have been postponed for better times. Thank God we finally waited for such good times. Let us thank the Swiss government for the gesture! This display of humanity and concern for our nature and the health of Bulgarians from a country outside the EU (Switzerland is not a member of the "family of the rich") towards a country that has been an EU member for over 8 years is telling in many respects, but is not the subject of this information.