The Ministry of Environment and Water has started a check-up of all the packaging re-cycling organizations in Bulgaria after a meeting with industry heads.

Environment Minister, Nona Karadzhova and Deputy Minister, Evdokiya Maneva, met with eight re-cycling organization representatives late Monday.

The check-up is due to the large number of companies, up to 40%, who produce packaging waste that is not collected by the separate national collection systems, leading to land-fill issues.

By law, every manufacturer or importer of goods with packaging must pay a fee to recycle on site or to become a member of a collective organization for recycling.

"Some of these organizations developed fictional charges, such as dumping fees, and did not invest in containers and plants for processing. All this leads to unfair competition," Director of ‘Ecopack' Kiril Zdravkov stated.

Meanwhile, by the end of the month the Ministry will rule on the request of the main recycling businesses to reduce the target for the amount of packaging to be collected and processed in 2009. The reason for this request is the financial crisis, which has led to a decline in demand for raw materials and a reduction in the capacity of processors.