The Futility of Cleaning Bulgaria through Campaigns

On April 9, scores of Bulgarians across the country went outside in a mass attempt to clean the littered public spaces in their cities and towns; take care of parks and green areas and plant trees.

The campaign, supported by local municipalities, was deemed a great success with people working hard, and leaving piles of trash on every street corner, every square, every downtown location.

The idea is certainly commendable; the effort of so many admirable. Until the next day, hour, minute when someone threw their cigarette butt on the ground, their trash outside the dumpster, (or even out of the window), and did not pick up after their dog.

As many in Bulgaria have pointed out, even those who actively engaged in the cleaning, it is somewhat preposterous to take care of environment in just on one day of the year and then be offhand and inconsiderate for the rest.

To top it off, the enthusiasm was dimmed to even greater extend when to everyone's huge disappointment, the Sofia City Hall proved unable to remove the collected waste in time. The municipal authorities issued numerous statements that they were working round-the-clock - attempting to remove the large waste (household appliances and furniture) first, but the concessionaires were overwhelmed and ran out of capacity.

As result, days later, the trash was still on the same corner where it had been left Saturday. The City Hall then advised residents to separate branches, glass, and dirt to alleviate the workload. Better later than never, right? The municipal authorities also reminded the spring campaign goes on until April 21 – the deadline to remove free of charge the bulky waste, but failed to explain why then they kept calling on people to take out their outsized trash on April 9.

It is a well-known fact that in Bulgaria piles of trash are prime attraction for certain minorities, for most of the homeless, and for all stray dogs. They quickly flocked in large numbers to the abandoned bags, rummaging to find the treasures buried in them, followed by strong winds, all  strewing the trash back where it was and even more.

The cleaning campaign in many large cities across Bulgaria had much similar fate, with people complaining:" We cleaned for hours and our hard work was wasted."

Yes, it is high time to move away from the Communist regime legacy; from that mindset embedding our concepts of how things must be done.

It is obvious the "Days of Labor," and "Saturdays of Labor," as the Fatherland Front called them then, do not work.

Instead, it will be more feasible that the State and the Sofia City Hall to apply all possible effort to speed-up the construction of the long-delayed Sofia waste plant and use the awaiting EU funds.

In other countries, where plastic bags and cigarette butts covering the streets are not a common site, municipalities, neighborhoods, and buildings have cleaning contractors instead of residents spending their time on the chore. The monthly fee per household is relatively small, or, at least, affordable. And when one pays it, they are more careful not to litter. There are also the volunteer "neighborhood watches," making sure any likely culprit is immediately stopped and sanctioned.

Even if we decide that Bulgarian municipalities and residents are maybe too poor to pay cleaning fees to contractors, it will be highly unfair to conclude we like living surrounded by trash or that it is in Bulgarian culture and traditions to litter and be untidy. Most Bulgarian homes are sparkling clean inside, so are smaller communities where people know each other. I have not seen any Bulgarian living in the US either, who would even think of throwing their cigarette butt, plastic bag or any other waste on the street or not pick up after their dog.

Bulgarian City Halls would be doing a much greater job if they enforce the rules and collect fines, instead of trumping grandiose campaigns with the help of the media, only to end up discovering they don't  have the means, ability and capacity to take even a one-day effort to the end. Enforcement of the rules could be a great start in making cleanliness a state of mind, even for the anonymous citizen.

Tidying campaigns, taking the form of political gains, do not work. As the former Mayor of New York City, Fiorello La Guardia, used to say "there is no democratic or republican way of cleaning the streets."

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