Government eyes greener Turkey in near future
With its plans for green development and the fight against climate change, the government wants to take further steps for a greener, better Turkey. ‘We will see a Turkey that will develop its capacity for the green economy in all sectors,’ Ankara said, si
IN THE next 20 or 30 years, Turkey will be a greener country that has largely completed its ecological transformation, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum said Saturday.
Kurum was speaking at an event on the impact of climate change, held at the Dolmabahçe Presidential Office in Istanbul.
The program, Circular Economy and Zero Waste Blue on the Axis of Sustainable Development, was organized by Turkey’s Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry, with the support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Speaking on the decisions taken at Turkey’s first climate council in February, the minister said that Turkey is situated in the Mediterranean basin, one of the
regions most affected by the impact of climate change.
“We will see a Turkey that will develop its capacity for the green economy in all sectors, and where hundreds of thousands of people will be employed in green sectors.”
Kurum said temperature maps show warming across the Mediterranean is about 20% higher than the global average, which is why Turkey often experiences the consequences such as wildfires, floods and drought along with global warming.
The fight against climate is not just an environmental issue, but a development issue that deeply affects many sectors, he added. Touching on the country’s road map to reach the 2053 net-zero emissions target, he said all buildings will be energy efficient by 2030 and 100% decarbonization will be achieved in heating and cooling.
IN THE next 20 or 30 years, Turkey will be a greener country that has largely completed its ecological transformation, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum said Saturday.
Kurum was speaking at an event on the impact of climate change, held at the Dolmabahçe Presidential Office in Istanbul. The program, Circular Economy and Zero Waste Blue on the Axis of Sustainable Development, was organized by Turkey’s Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry, with the support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Speaking on the decisions taken at Turkey’s first climate council in February, the minister said that Turkey is situated in the Mediterranean basin, one of the regions most affected by the impact of climate change.
“We will see a Turkey that would develop its capacity for the green economy in all sectors, and where hundreds of thousands of people would be employed in green sectors.”
Kurum said temperature maps show warming across the Mediterranean is about 20% higher than global average, which is why Turkey often experiences the consequences such as wildfires, floods and drought along with global warming.
The fight against climate is not just an environmental issue, but a development issue that deeply affects many sectors, he added. Touching on the country’s road map to reach the 2053 net-zero emissions target, he said all buildings will be energy efficient by 2030 and 100% decarbonization will be achieved in heating and cooling.
ZERO WASTE
A far-reaching recycling scheme is among contributors to country’s green goals. In southeastern Kilis, which is the only province where first lady Emine Erdoğan’s Zero Waste Project is implemented on a provincial basis, waste materials are brought back into the economy
with the project carried out by the municipality.
Within the scope of the project, a waste collection center was built on an area of 1,100 square meters (11,840.30 square feet) in Kilis, where recyclable wastes are collected at a single point. The project distributed triple and double sets, baskets and bottle-like cages to schools, institutions and markets, while 800 recycling cages were placed on the main arteries next to household waste containers. In addition, eight mobile waste collection centers were located in areas where the public is concentrated. Institutions collect waste materials with the “bring 5 pieces of waste and receive your pencil” to encourage the public.
Waste materials collected throughout the province are brought to the waste center of the municipality and contribute to the economy.
Deputy Mayor Mustafa Tohumcu told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Turkey’s largest environmental policy has begun to be implemented under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s wife, Emine Erdoğan.
Explaining that the Zero Waste Project is an important initiative due to its contributions to the environment and economy, Tohumcu stated that they started the infrastructure
works of this project in 2019 and also provided training at various institutions. Noting that they purchased vehicles with the support of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate
Change, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the municipality, Tohumcu said: “We started to implement the Zero Waste Project as of January 2021. In this framework, cardboard, paper, metal, plastic and glass in household wastes are collected by waste collectors and then they are delivered to licensed companies.”
The council’s aim is to bring the materials in domestic waste into the economy. “When we look at the amount of waste collected in 18 months, we see that around 4,500 tons of waste was collected. According to our calculations, we saved TL 15 million,” Tohumcu added. Together with its economic benefits, the project is also very important in terms of preventing environmental pollution. “The reduction of the garbage going to our solid waste storage facility is also very important for us in terms of preventing the environmental pollution. It is also a source of employment here,” Tohumcu explained.
Emphasizing that Kilis is the only province in Turkey where the Zero Waste Project is implemented on a provincewide basis, Tohumcu thanked those who contributed to the implementation of the project.
Since its inception in 2017, the project has given back more than $1.8 billion (TL 30 billion) to the economy that would typically have been wasted. In addition, it saved 265 million trees and prevented the emission of 3 million tons of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere that would further pollute the air in the country already grappling with the impact of climate change.
The project was first implemented in government offices, with several ministries adopting the scheme by sorting out their waste at the source instead of random disposal. In five years, the number of public agencies and private companies adhering to the practice has reached 140,000. Figures by the Ministry of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change show the country’s recycling rate, which was 13% when the project kicked off in 2017, was 25% in 2021. The ministry’s next goal was to bring it to 35% in 2023.
It also branched out to seas under the title of “zero waste blue” to save bodies of water from pollution through massive cleanup campaigns. As of 2022, the amount of maritime waste collected and delivered to proper disposal facilities reached about 134,000 tons.
The ministry has said last month that a drop in plastic bag usage also contributed to the reduction of plastic waste. In the three years since the government introduced a paid plastic scheme, use dropped by 65%, preventing some 550,000 tons of plastic waste, equivalent to a savings worth about $230 million (TL 3.8 billion). This, in turn, prevented more than 22,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.