The results conference of the "Zero Waste Workshop" in Sakarya was held.

02.04.2026 19:17

A results conference was held for the "Turkey Zero Waste Workshop" conducted in January in Sakarya, aimed at waste management and preventing waste.

Sakarya University (SAU) hosted a conference at the Turgut Özal Culture and Congress Center, where clothing, paintings, decorative items, models, and various objects made from waste materials by kindergarten, primary school, middle school, and high school students in the city were exhibited.

Sakarya Governor Rahmi Doğan stated in his speech at the conference that the city is one of Turkey's gems with its lakes, rivers, plateaus, beaches, endemic plants, and first-class agricultural land.

Expressing that they are making every effort to protect the environment, Doğan said, "Sapanca Lake is a basin that holds 1 billion 300 million tons of drinking water. It is one of the rare lakes in the world, but the constructions and waste around this lake have caused it to struggle for survival. In the studies we conducted a few months ago with our Metropolitan Municipality, the demolition of the piers around the lake has at least opened up the shoreline." he said.

A CONTRIBUTION OF 365 BILLION TO THE ECONOMY

Fatih Turan, General Director of Environmental Management at the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, also recalled that the first workshop on January 8 was held in Rize and the second in Sakarya.

Emphasizing that the zero waste movement has reached a global point, Turan stated, "This work we carry out with the theme of local to national has transitioned from national to global. This movement started in 2017 under the auspices of the Honorable First Lady Emine Erdoğan. When we started, our recycling rate was around 13%. In the 9 years that have passed, our recycling rate has increased to 37.53% by the end of 2025. During this time, we have achieved recovery from over 90 million tons of waste. This includes 30 million tons of organic waste, 30 million tons of paper and cardboard, 11 million tons of plastic waste, 3.5-4 million tons of glass waste, and around 9-10 million tons of metal waste." he said.

Turan stated that the economic value of the tonnage has provided approximately 365 billion lira to the economy at today's figures, and emphasized that this movement is very important not only in terms of economic and environmental aspects but also in terms of the effective use of scarce resources and preventing waste.

Explaining that more than 80 pages of reports were prepared at the workshop and the targets were summarized in the final declaration, Turan noted that 48 deposit return machines were placed in different locations in Sakarya, there are 10 manual collection points, and 7 million beverage packages have been collected in the deposit management system from these points.

Turan announced that by the end of this year, deposit return machines will become widespread in 81 provinces, and continued: "In order to manage the cycle of what is called waste and the value chain correctly, we need to at least separate them into recyclable and organic categories at home. Separating these, transporting them to our local governments' transfer points and disposal facilities, and then recovering them as raw materials for the economy will be much easier. When mixed, the economic value decreases. We see various implementations of this in different countries."

"WHILE TRYING TO CREATE A CLEAN ENVIRONMENT, WE STRIVE TO RECYCLE WASTES THAT ARE DEEMED VALUABLE"

Sakarya Metropolitan Mayor Yusuf Alemdar stated that the decisions of the workshop and the items reflected in the final declaration are not just about the environment or sustainable waste issues. Alemdar pointed out that the voices of people with will, ideas, hopes, dreams, and expectations for the future are starting to be heard all over the world, and said, "This is also the result of the will expressed by our President and his companions, who have been on the road with the slogan 'nothing will be the same as before' for 25 years. While trying to create a clean environment, we strive to recycle wastes that are deemed worthless. We continue to contribute the separation of the waste collected in our 16 districts to the economy." he said.