A REGIONAL ASPECT OF MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT DISPARITIES: THE CASE OF BULGARIA.

‘Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns’ is one of 17 goals of The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. The target is by 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse and the key indicator is the Recycling rate measured by tons of material recycled. The aim of the research was studying of the regional aspect of municipal waste management disparities in Bulgaria. The progress for achievement of the Bulgaria’s national targets was analyzed for 4-years period from 2015 to 2018. The objects of study were the regions at LAU 1 (Local Administrative Units) level, according the European Union legislation. The regions with problems in municipal waste management were identified. The number of municipalities in Bulgaria with recycling rate less than 1% in 2015 year was 90 (34.1% of municipalities) and in 2018 year was 67 (25.3% of municipalities). The correlation between the recycling rate at local level and key economic indicators such as the number of enterprises, gross value added, turnover and etc. were analyzed. The analysis showed weak positive correlations for 2018 year at local level between: the number of enterprises and the recycling rate (0.216); the turnover and the recycling rate (0.194); the output and the recycling rate (0.204); the gross value added ant the recycling rate (0.196). The identified disparities at regional level in the municipal waste management are a base for studying of good management practices and their implementation in problem regions. The research contributes to the scientific and practical discourse in the decision-making process for the regional management and the regional planning in field of municipal waste management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]