Discovering recycling
Johanna Holm Istanbul produces about 10,000 tons of solid waste every day. A part of this is being recycled and re-used again. However, a big part is still not recycled which causes damages to the nature: in 2008 the waste amount was 3,653,333 tons/year and only 938 830 kilos were recycled. According to communication and education specialist Berkan Tunçludemir from ÇEVKO, citizens of Istanbul have the crucial role of making recycling work efficiently. In 2006 a person in Istanbul produced 1,28 kilos of waste every day. 40% of this waste consists of packaging materials. Packaging waste is also the part of garbage that could be easily recycled: glass, plastic, metal, paper/cardboard and composite. At the moment, only part of packaging waste is being recycled and the rest goes to dumping places. A non-profit recovery organization registered with the Turkey’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, ÇEVKO (Environmental Protection and Packaging Waste Recovery and Recycling Trust) was set up on the initiative of Turkey’s 14 leading industrial companies in 1991. The organization cooperates with communities and industry at different levels, organizing recycling and raising awareness on the issue. Berkan Tunçludemir tells that in 2005 the Ministry of Environment and Forestry issued “Regulation on the control of packaging waste”. “These regulations say that local administrators have to make a system for recycling. The problem is that it is not wide spread and it is new for Turkish people.” That is, it is not working as well as it could work. In waste management the responsibility to recycle is divided between several actors who all have their responsibilities listed in the regulations. The actors are the ministry, provincial directorates of the ministry, municipalities, packaging producers, marketers, authorized institutions and selling points. Tunçludemir tells how the system works: “Municipalities plan waste collection system. They make […]