According to the statement made by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change; The Zero Waste Movement, which was launched on September 27, 2017, under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's wife, Emine Erdoğan, and under the coordination of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, is celebrating its 9th anniversary.
This year, as Türkiye hosts the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the most important organization of the United Nations (UN) in the fight against climate change, the 9th year theme of the Zero Waste Movement was determined as 'Together for the World from 0 to COP31'.
It will set an example to the world as a Zero Waste recycling and circular economy implementation project, which is among the 10 priority themes of the Action Agenda of COP31 to be held in Antalya and among the '2035 Global Implementation Goals'. 'Zero Waste and methane reduction', one of the 6 goals of COP31, aims to reduce the increase in waste production worldwide by half by 2035.
'From 0 to COP31 FOR THE WORLD'
Sharing on the virtual media account about the 9th anniversary of the project, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum said, "The step taken 9 years ago directs the world today. The Zero Waste Movement, which started on September 27, 2017 under the auspices of the Honorable First Lady Erdoğan, initiated a great transformation that changed our view of resources with the call of 'don't throw away, recycle'. Now, this understanding is being carried to the global climate struggle with Türkiye's COP31 Presidency. For our common home, common." "From 0 to COP31 for our future, for the world," he said.
28 MILLION PEOPLE WERE TRAINED
With the Zero Waste Movement, Türkiye has made savings in many areas, from the environment to energy, from greenhouse gas emissions to waste storage, and invested in both the economy and the future since 2017. To date; Zero Waste Management System was implemented in 220 thousand buildings and campuses. 28 million people were trained. The recovery rate, which was 13 percent in 2017, will be increased every year and will reach 36.08 percent in 2024; In 2025, it was increased to 37.53 percent. Türkiye aims to increase the recovery rate to 60 percent in 2035 and to 70 percent in 2053.
365 BILLION TL CONTRIBUTION TO THE ECONOMY
In addition, a total of 90 million tons of recyclable waste, including 36.1 million tons of paper-cardboard, 10.2 million tons of plastic, 3.5 million tons of glass, 9.6 million tons of metal and 30.6 million tons of organic and other recyclable waste, was processed and brought into the economy from the beginning of the project to the end of 2025. In this way, 365 billion TL was contributed to the country's economy.
From the collected waste, 270 billion kilowatts of energy was saved, equivalent to the 1-year electricity needs of 54 million households, 2 trillion liters of water was saved, equivalent to the 2-year water consumption of Istanbul, 60 billion liters of oil was saved, which is more than the 1-year fuel consumption of all vehicles in Türkiye, and a waste storage area the size of approximately 55 thousand football fields (390 million cubic meters) was saved.
Cutting down of 613 million trees, which corresponds to 7 percent of the forests in Türkiye, was prevented and 180 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of approximately 36 million vehicles, were prevented.
