Waste management

On the fifth day after the heavy snowfall in Sofia, a little more than a third of the reports about fallen branches and trees submitted to 112 have been processed.

Since the beginning of the situation, 2,354 calls to 112 have been received, of which 860 have been processed. The work of all field teams continues, said Siyana Khlebarova, chief expert in the Green System Directorate.

Representatives from 175 nations meet in Nairobi from Nov. 13 to negotiate for the first time what concrete measures should be included in a binding global treaty to end plastic pollution.

Waste management has developed differently around Greece. There are parts of the country where big strides have been made, with modern units in operation. Elsewhere, landfills are collapsing into the sea.

The region of Attica is still lagging behind. It is an ongoing risk to the environment, but also a missed opportunity for modern waste management that could yield benefits.

Landfills are now "a thing of the past," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said at the opening of the county's newest waste management facility in the Peloponnese.

The Xerias River in Pylos, southern Greece, has been turned into a garbage dump. After heavy rainfall, the torrent swelled and swept away part of a landfill, which had been closed since the 1980s. Authorities are now scrambling to find solutions so that the rest of the landfill will not subside further in the next bout of bad weather to hit the area.

The amount of daily garbage collected in Türkiye's most populous city Istanbul decreased from 18,000 tons to 17,000 tons, as the daily food waste rate experienced a minor 4-percent reduction compared to the previous year, data by a municipal subsidiary has shown.

Home renovation debris and assorted rubbish including toilet bowls, old sofas and broken TVs are piling up on Mount Aegaleo on the outskirts of Athens, endangering the sparse remaining greenery and also increasing the risk of wildfires.

The Hellenic Solid Waste Management Association (EESDA) has noted serious gaps and problems in recycling in Greece. 

In a letter to the Environment Ministry, it said, "There are long-standing difficulties in the timely and effective implementation of legislation, as well as the operation of the competent authorities and bodies." 

The Zero Waste Project, which aims to reduce the volume of non-recyclable waste, has achieved an economic gain of 96 billion Turkish Liras ($3.7 billion), Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change Minister Mehmet Özhaseki has said.

Chemical waste dumped on the side of a road has contaminated the Sazlıbosna Dam, one of Istanbul's important water resources.

Teams from the Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry took samples from the waste, which emitted smoke and odor into the premises.