“I will not allow more bales of Sofia’s refuse to be transported to the Plovdiv dump, Plovdiv mayor Slavcho Atanasov told private broadcaster Nova Television. It was of no benefit to Plovdiv. The dump in Tsalapitsa had been deliberately set on fire because of fear that Plovdiv would accept more of Sofia’s refuse, Atanasov said. The fire had already been extinguished and experts were examining the area every half an hour, so people should not be worried, the mayor said.

Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov also commented on the Sofia rubbish issue. According to Borissov, the dumps in Tsalpatitsa and Pazardjik lacked permits. A tender for the design and construction of a refuse processing plant would be launched by mid-September and the first sod would be turned in November or December. Meanwhile, the bales would be transported to legal waste dumps.
Borissov, who is also an informal leader of the opposition Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), told private broadcaster bTV that “even the worst peace on the right is better than the bettings war, such as the one that GERB and DSB [Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria] made”. DSB leader Ivan Kostov would eventually realise that GERB was a “predictable non-populist party”. “We seek a model in which every political party and leader will take its own responsibilities,” Borissov said. GERB was the only non-populist party because it did not fail in keeping a single promise.