At the initiative of the Sofia Mountaineering Club some of the huts on Mount Vitosha – the mountain in immediate proximity to Sofia – will be fitted with machines for compressing aluminum cans. In this way, instead of polluting the environment the cans will be utilized by a recycling company in a bid to keep the mountain clean, the young environmentalists say.

In an interview for the BNR’s Radio Sofia channel, Dora Mihaylova from the mountaineering club explained that the people who run the huts, and the visitors prefer their drinks in a can rather than in a bottle:

“Unless they are compressed these cans take up too much space. And that is a problem for the people who run the huts in terms of storage and disposal. That is how the idea came to us to fit huts with these presses which make the cans really compact.”

The aluminum compress machines will crush cans so they can be stored until a sufficient quantity is accumulated to be transported. They will only be fitted in huts and shelters which sell canned beverages. But to keep nature clean outside them it is up to tourists to collect their garbage, including the aluminum cans.

The ore deposits from which aluminum is extracted are almost depleted as a natural resource, data from a major international study show. Aluminum has so far been collected in the EU along with all other metallic packaging. According to the new regulations however, cans must be collected and recycled separately. As member of the EU, recycled aluminum packaging in Bulgaria must reach 50% by 2025 and 60% by 2030.

As a matter of fact separate collection and recycling of aluminum packaging or cans is the next big challenge for businesses and organizations for utilizing waste and protecting the environment.

Interview by BNR’s Radio Sofia

Editing by Veneta Nikolova