Ilian Iliev: “We have become the landfill of Europe. We have to stop it!”

by Elitsa Lukova

photos: The Public Environmental Center for Sustainable Development

The Public Environmental Center for Sustainable Development (PECSD) in Varna turned 25. Celebrations are postponed until the end of the lockdown.

An exhibition tracing back the history and achievements of PECSD is to be opened after dropping out the coronavirus restrictions. 

Ilian Iliev, the founder and the Chairman of the Board of the association, took stock of the past quarter century.

The most successful campaign of PECSD is “Sheet by sheet”. It started in 2000 as an educational project in the schools of Varna and developed into a campaign for gathering and recycling the waste paper, used in various public organisations.

Ilian Iliev said: “A ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees from cutting down. We have rescued over 18 000 trees for the past 20 years by recycling waste paper together with 300 participants. There are few campaigns and projects in Bulgaria that last so long.”

An interesting story triggered another successful campaign, called “Let’s bet!”. In 2002 the young ecologist made a wager with the Governor of Varna Province. Ilian Iliev claimed 4% of the CO₂ emissions of four schools was possible to be reduced. “On condition that we won, he had to walk for a week and provided we lost, we had to take him with a rickshaw to work for a week. Well, we won,” bursts in laughter Ilian Iliev.

Ten years ago PECSD took a legal action against a decision of the Bulgarian government, that had allowed extraction of shale gas by means of hydraulic fracturing. As a consequence, a moratorium was imposed on the use of this highly dangerous for the environment and human health technology.

One of the latest missions of PECSD is to decrease the use of disposable plastic cups in the kindergartens. The aim is children to make conscious decisions and choose reusable cups. More than 4600 kids have taken part in the project and over 12 million disposable plastic cups have been saved so far. “The project “Choose the Reusable Cup” even won a gold medal in the BEYONDPLASTIC Award 2020 competition for the Best Initiative in Education”, announced proudly Ilian Iliev.

The most popular initiative of 2020, “Bring a bottle, take a book”, part of the Green Fridays of PECSD, continues in 2021. People may bring an empty glass bottle from perfume, cream or medicine and take a book against just 1 lev (0,5 EUR). This symbolic payment is used for the publishing of the “List”¹ newspaper that has been in print since 2001.

“Unfortunately, these small glass containers end their life on the dumping ground,” said Svilena Velcheva, project coordinator and the “List” newspaper editor. “Their recycling is usually not cost-effective, because of the additional treatment they need. They might contain tiny metal or plastic parts, that have to be removed before recycling.”

The collected glass containers are used for the production of foam glass or small glass souvenirs.

“Currently, we deal also with the burning of waste. This is the most serious issue at the moment”, said Ilian Iliev. “Ten years ago we put a slogan on the chimney of a hospital incinerator. It said: “Burning kills people”. That has been our priority since then.”

Incinerators in Devnya burn waste from Italy, Great Britain and other European countries. “That affects also Varna, because, as we know, western air currents bring some of the pollutants to our city. We have become the landfill of Europe. We have to stop it!,” threatens the environmentalist.

¹In Bulgarian „лист“ [list] means: 1. a sheet of paper; 2. a leaf