Minister Popov: Bulgaria places the circular economy as a long-term policy priority in the MoEW

The outgoing Minister of Environment and Water, Julian Popov, participated in a meeting of the environment ministers of the countries of the Visegrad Group, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Germany and Slovenia, which was held in Brno within the framework of the Czech Presidency of the Visegrad Four with a focus on environmental pollution and its impact on humans.

The ministerial discussion outlined the pollution-related challenges most relevant to the Central and Eastern Europe region, as well as priority actions to overcome them.

Actions that can be taken to increase the sustainability and safety of the chemical industry were at the center of the discussions. Ministers discussed measures in the context of the circular economy that would have the greatest environmental benefits and could play a leading role in the future improvement of the use of secondary raw materials.

Minister Julian Popov emphasized that Bulgaria places the circular economy as a long-term priority of its development policy, as it will ensure both economic growth and a cleaner environment. He shared that for five years, efforts have been made to develop economic zones with carbon-neutral industrial parks, which provides synergy between economic development and climate action. The minister added that circular business models are particularly important, in which what is waste for one company becomes raw material for another.

The agenda of the meeting also included light pollution as a complex global problem that affects both the behavior of wild species and human health. Minister Popov noted that in Bulgaria we consider the importance of the issue, especially in the context of the ever wider use of LED lighting. Regardless of the fact that national legislation does not explicitly address light pollution, there are opportunities to implement measures that effectively lead to its limitation, he pointed out.

During the meeting, information was presented on the results of a conference organized by the Czech Presidency of the Visegrad Group and dedicated to the effects of environmental pollution on humans. Among the main topics of the conference are the effects of chemical air pollution, of exposure to chemicals on the development and health of the child and a complex exposure of the impact in the urban environment.