Turkey change prevents 8K tons of GHG emission in 2019

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - Since banning most free plastic bags beginning in 2019, Turkey prevented 8,000 tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the Environment and Urbanization Ministry said Thursday.

With usage of plastic bag down 77%, 200,000 tons of plastic have been saved, the ministry said in figures shared on Twitter.

Worldwide, 5 trillion plastic bags are used annually, including 35 billion in Turkey. That accounts for nearly 35 bags per person per month, before the Jan. 1, 2019 change, according to the data.

Since that date, the number of bags used per person fell to 10 per month.

Several EU countries, including the U.K., France, the Netherlands and Sweden, have adopted similar policies.

Thanks to the policy change, 8,000 tons of greenhouse gas emission have been prevented in the last year.

A total of 210 million Turkish lira ($35 million) from plastic bags, were used for environmental investments of local governments.

The country will shift to a "climate friendly" deposit-refund system in 2021, the ministry added.

Turkey also has a zero-waste project, led by Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan, to reduce the volume of non-recyclable waste.