Current status of compost in Turkey and the European Union

Current status of compost in Turkey

Although there are laws regarding the collection and processing of bio-waste by separation in Turkey, the legal regulations are still only on paper. The reason for this is the lack of political incentives and support, as there is a lack of knowledge and expertise on the subject.

According to the regulations of the Metropolitan Municipality Law (10.7.2004 - 5216) and the Municipal Law (3.7.2005 - 5393), the sole responsibility for the management of urban waste falls to the municipalities. Municipalities are obliged to provide all services related to the collection, transportation, separation, recycling, disposal and storage of solid wastes or to appoint other institutions to provide these services.

According to the Ministry for European Union Affairs, urban waste management in Turkey is being improved thanks to new legal regulations and supported by research, although there are deficiencies in practice. In our country, 10 million tons of waste was recovered in 2012 and 20 million tons in 2014 by applying composting, co-incineration and other recycling processes.

In March 2015, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization announced the Compost Communiqué, which is a legislative act on the collection and recycling (compost) of bio-waste, in an attempt to better handle the waste processing situation in Turkey and to bring it to a similar point with developed countries. (2015 - 29286). According to this recently adopted legal regulation, all district municipalities are responsible for the separate collection and processing of bio-waste. Turkey Transforms Its Garbage! The project aims to provide this.

Current status of compost in the European Union

In recent years, hundreds of United States communities have implemented recycling programs. Some of these are on composting at home, emphasizing the importance of waste collection and recycling to families.

The European Union has requested that the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfills be reduced to 75% of the numbers in 1995 in 2010, to 50% in 2015 and to just over a third by 2020. Just fulfilling the first target means a reduction of 8 million tons. The amount of urban waste produced per capita in the EU in 2013 was 481 kg and decreased by 8.7% compared to the highest level of 527 kg produced in 2002. Since 2007, the amount of urban municipal waste per capita has dropped significantly and has fallen below the levels of the mid-1990s. Of the 481 kg of urban waste produced per capita in the EU in 2013, 470 kg was processed. 31% of this waste was sent to landfills, 28% was recycled, 26% was incinerated and 15% became compost. The proportion of municipal waste recycled or composted in the EU has increased steadily, rising from 18% in 1995 to 43% in 2013.

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