Turkey’s zero waste project wins UN global action award

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s zero waste project has won the UN Development Program Turkey's first (UNDP) Global Goals Action Award.

“The project will receive UNDP Turkey’s Sustainable Development Goals Action Award due to its important contributions to the goal Responsible Production and Consumption, one of the Sustainable Development Goals,” the UNDP Turkey said in a Monday statement.

Led by First Lady Emine Erdogan, the project aims to reduce the volume of non-recyclable waste. It is also listed in the Environmental Performance Review of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The award for the project, which has successfully met responsible consumption and production goal, will be given for the first time.

It will be presented to Erdogan by UNDP Turkey Resident Representative Claudio Tomasi at a ceremony in the capital Ankara on Thursday.

Turkey’s project aims to reduce the volume of non-recyclable waste. It is also listed in the Environmental Performance Review of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

As part of the project initiated in 2017, the recovery rate is targeted to reach 35% in 2023, which is 19% currently.

Between 2017 to 2020, 315 million kilowatt-hour energy, 345 million cubic meters of water, 50 million barrels of oil, 397 million tons of raw materials, and 209 million trees were saved.

The project has also prevented 2 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions and saved 209 million trees.

The amount of waste is expected to reach 2.2 billion tons globally in 2025, from 1.3 billion tons currently, according to a World Bank report, while this figure is forecast to reach 38 million tons in 2023.

Also, the project brought 17 billion Turkish liras (over $3 billion) to the Turkish economy from June 2017 to the end of 2020. The average USD/TRY exchange rate was 5.55 during the period.

The project also aims to employ 100,000 people directly and generate a saving of 20 billion Turkish liras ($2.7 billion) as of 2023.

While 76,000 buildings currently have zero waste management systems, this figure is expected to reach 400,000 buildings in 2023.

Also, 100,000 liters of oil is saved per 1 ton of recycled glass, and 17 trees will be saved per 1 ton of recycled paper.