Turkey’s Zero Waste Project

Over the past years, Turkey has amassed efforts to reduce waste to protect the precious environment. Since 2017, many new recycling campaigns have been successful in saving more than 30 million trees and more than 1.7 million tons of cartons and paper products. It is great success in short period of time that inspires people to be more environmental friendly and to secure nature for the coming generations. The preservation of nature does not only secure the future of Turkey for a better place but promotes tourism with breath-taking natural beauty. Hence Turkey’s Zero Waste Project is one greater step towards clean environment.

Turkey’s First Lady spearheads the Zero Waste Projects
Emine Erdoğan, wife of President RecepTayyip Erdoğan started the Zero Waste project campaign in July 2017. The aim of this project is to implements some laws across the country to limit waste and to highly promote the recycling of different types of materials including plastic, paper, glass, clothing and metal. It also emphasis on reusable rubbish as much as possible in order to limit the waste.

Over the last few years, the world was at high risk of sudden climate changes due to deforestation, water and chemical contamination and air pollution. In a country like Turkey, where nearly 80 million people lives, the waste created by homes, factories and deforestation was a high risk for climate changes issues. On the other hand, Turkey is one of the few countries across the world, who truly takes steps to protect the environment in every possible way and Zero Waste Project is one of the ways. There are many issues that seriously affect the worlds ecosystem and Turkeys initiative campaigns like Turkey’s Zero Waste Project promotes awareness of the need to recycle and dispose of rubbish in a correct manner to promote Eco-friendly environment. Moreover, they educate the youth to understand the importance of environment and highlight the catastrophic consequences that could occur if we do not care for world around us.

Since 2017, many initiatives have been taken by Turkeys government to protect the environment. In one of the speech at Istanbul International Environment Summit, Emine Erdogan stated "Plastic is the main enemy of biodiversity". She also highlighted the fact that according to the environment of world today, it is an urgent need to reduce the amount of plastic used in packaging and to be extremely careful about safe disposal of this plastic. During November 2018, a draft law was submitted in order to ban the supply of free plastic bags in supermarkets and shops across the country.

Emine also promoted a scheme all over the Turkey that is based on a rule she suggested "change in habits for the sake of the environment". The aim is to aware people that its the responsibility of every individual, commercial and businesses sectors to change their habit of consuming plastics and make sure to recycle items. This will help and contribute towards a better green world for all of us and our coming generations. For this, reusable bags are introduced in all stores and markets. Since the beginning of 2019, the laws were slightly applicable and recycling programs up and down that these are working in most provinces to promote the sensible disposal of rubbish.

Recycling programs now in place in most Turkish towns and cities
In the recent months, 600 licensed recycling facilities are provided across the country according to the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning. In 2017, a law was passed that requires Turkish packaging producers to use waste materials in their products. This step was so successful that it alone has already gone a long way to limit the amount of reclaimable rubbish hitting landfill sites and helped Zero waste project.

Recycling Bins as Common Place after Turkey’s Zero Waste Project
Recycling bins are now a common place in cities, towns, valleys and tourist spots in the country. Whether you plan to visits a tourist spot, a park or you head to any school and university, you will see recycle bins beside the regular bins. Most expats, foreigners living in Istanbul, Fethiye, Bodrum, Antalya or Ankara have set up different projects to give awareness to local people to help keep the beaches and resorts clean. Many tourist companies, social media groups, large resorts, business people and local councils are all now standing together to clear beaches, parks, forests and roads.

Turkey property developers becoming more environmentally aware
Beside, the companies and government that are concerned about packaging, many property developers are taking steps to protect the environment. In turkey homes, we can witness many developers using reclaimed and recycled products. They also use eco-friendly materials in their builds and products. Moreover, property owners and developers are concerned about saving energy in modern homes. Many eco-tech apartments are being made by using a unique type of glass that adds a 35 percent energy saving across the board and that contributes towards eco friendly environments. It is a great success to see developers and individuals more environmentally conscious. Recycled flooring, reclaimed wood, eco-tech and recycled material all helped to promote eco-friendly world. Even property makers and developers are also given an opportunity to buy fixtures and fittings in many new build projects, and "eco-homes" are hitting the market. Turkey is one of the famous countries in the world that take great initiatives to preserve the environment. They have been successful in establishing popular property investment destinations while preserving the environment and making it charming and beautiful, healthy for many generations to come.