Over the course of the first several months of 2015, more than BGN 12, 000 had to be invested in the restoration or substitution of waste sorting containers across Bulgaria.

The announcement was made by Georgi Slavchev - a representative of one of the companies appointed to administer the process within the Sofia municipality, as reported by the Bulgarian National Radio.

The reasons for the ineffectiveness of the new separate waste collection method are mainly the fact that a number of citizens are not following the color coding and deposit the wrong type of waste in the corresponding bin or they are either breaking the containers, or setting them on fire.

The poorest portion of the population is often responsible for the acts, as the cardboard, plastic and metal waste can be submitted for recycling by citizens in exchange for money.

In response, since 2014, the containers were changed to a type of ''igloo'', with wide openings only at the bottom in order to prevent people from taking the trash disposed. This however, did not stop people from continuing their practice, as they started simply turning the bins over and often spilling garbage on the streets.

Slavchev is also convinced that the legislation needs to be amended to prevent the acts from happening.

He added that additional educational seminars will be provided for school students to raise awareness on the positive aspects of the waste sorting on a global scale.