Zero waste strategies and Turkey's zero waste project

Abstract

The amount of waste in the world continues to increase in the framework of the population, increase in purchasing power and technological developments since the past years and this increase necessitates the need for sustainable and integrated management of waste. The disposal of waste without being used in the recycling and recovery process causes serious resource losses, both materially and energy. The "zero waste" movement has recently gained importance as an alternative to the dominant "take-use-waste" production model and as a viable approach to climate change. Zero waste is a change of perspective. It requires think again about what we traditionally regarded as garbage and instead addressing all materials as valuable resources. Zero waste takes into account the entire material management system, from extraction of natural resources to product design, production and distribution, product use and reuse, recycling, composting, energy recovery and disposal. This paper discusses a variety of zero waste strategy implementations and Turkey's Zero Waste Project.