Sofia municipality is looking for a refuse separating machine to be installed at the Souhodol landfill. The announcement for the public procurement was published on the website of the official newspaper of the European Commission (EC) Тenders Electronic Daily, Dnevnik daily said.

The procurement includes delivery, installation and putting into operation of an installation to separate mixed consumer refuse. The Sofia municipal council voted that up to 1.7 million leva be granted to purchase the machine.

Sofia municipality expects that separating refuse will reduce its volume by about 30 per cent, which will prolong the use of the Souhodol refuse dump.

A machine of this type can process 120 000 tons of refuse a year. The price for processing a ton of refuse is about 130 leva. Part of the expenses could be earned back as some of the refuse could be sold as scrap.
According to municipal councillor Vili Lilkov, however, returns from sale as scrap would be not more than 3 million leva annually, while the cost of processing were 16 million leva.

Municipal company Chistota Iksur would be the owner of the installation, Dnevnik daily said. The company said it expected the investment could be returned in three years.