ISTANBUL

Turkey’s first lady thanked the UN Development Project (UNDP) Turkey team Thursday for their contribution to the Zero Waste Project, which won the Global Goals Action Award, and other environmental studies carried out by them. 

"The Zero Waste Project, which we launched in 2017, was awarded the 'Global Goals Action Award' by UNDP Turkey for its significant contribution to the UN's 'Responsible Production and Consumption' goal. I would like to thank the UNDP Turkey team for their interest in our projects,” said Emine Erdogan on Twitter.

2017’de başlattığımız #SıfırAtık projesi, BM'nin ‘Sorumlu Üretim ve Tüketim’ amacına yaptığı önemli katkılardan dolayı UNDP Türkiye tarafından ‘Küresel Amaçlar Eylem Ödülü’ne layık görüldü. @UNDPTurkiye ekibine projelerimize gösterdikleri ilgiden dolayı teşekkür ediyorum. pic.twitter.com/1nV8qVzcqL

— Emine Erdoğan (@EmineErdogan) March 25, 2021

“The relationship established with nature in our civilization is so deep that many foundations have been established in our history to protect the environment. Today, we also need to close the distance between us and nature[…]to regain the friendship of nature."

"I would like to thank all our citizens, public institutions, non-governmental organizations and members of the media who support Zero Waste, who have made recycling a way of life in all aspects of life," Erdogan said in another tweet, with the hashtag #WorldOurHome.

Zero waste project

Initiated in 2017, the Zero Waste Project aims for a recovery rate of 35% in 2023, up from the current 19%.

From 2017 to 2020, 315 million kilowatt-hours of energy, 345 million cubic meters of water, 50 million barrels of oil, 397 million tons of raw materials and 209 million trees were saved.

The project has also prevented 2 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions and saved 209 million trees.

In 2025, total global waste is expected to reach 2.2 billion tons from the current 1.3 billion tons, according to the World Bank.

Also, the project brought 17 billion Turkish liras ($3 billion) to the Turkish economy from June 2017 to the end of 2020. The average USD/TRY exchange rate was 5.55 during the period.

The project also aims to employ 100,000 people directly and generate savings of 20 billion Turkish liras ($2.7 billion) by 2023.

While 76,000 buildings currently have zero waste management systems, this figure is expected to reach 400,000 in 2023.

Also, 100,000 liters of oil is saved per ton of recycled glass and 17 trees per ton of recycled paper.

*Writing by Merve Berker