17. Circular Economy in Turkey

Turkey has taken significant steps in the institutionalization of environmental authorities and drawing up environmental legislation in the last four decades. The country has a strengthened and comprehensive environmental regulatory framework that can support circular economy components. However, the implementation of environmental regulations needs significant improvement. Several targets have been determined in terms of waste recycling and recovery, and renewable energy utilization to support CE implementation. Currently, 87% of municipal waste is landfilled. Increasing the municipal waste recovery rate is among the top priorities of the country. Industrial waste recovery is improving quicker compared to municipal waste recovery in Turkey. Hazardous industrial waste recovery increased by 68%, and non-hazardous industrial waste recovery increased by 30% in the last 2 years. Turkey is in the process of implementing several projects to reduce plastic waste pollution and to increase the recovery rate. Zero Waste Project is the leading project in this regard. However, large amounts of plastic waste are also imported in Turkey, which is challenging according to the zero waste policy. Turkey has large potential and an increased installed capacity of renewable energy sources. Environmental investment by the private sector has a growing trend. On the other hand, a highly carbon-intensive economy reliant on fossil fuels is still a concern in terms of the circular economy. Turkey put binding targets to support the circular economy realization in the country, mostly related to recycling and recovery of certain types of waste, and in a dynamic process to establish an effective system to manage all the recycling and recovery activities. This chapter aims to summarize the efforts by Turkey towards establishing circular economy components in the country.