Interview with Muhammet Saraç, General Manager of İZAYDAŞ

İZAYDAŞ General Manager Muhammet Saraç answered our questions about İZAYDAŞ's activities and projects.

Could you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your educational background and your professional experience in the sector?

I was born on 12 January 1966 in Şavşat/Artvin. I completed my primary education at İzmit Ziya Gökalp Primary School. After completing my secondary and high school education at İzmit İmam Hatip High School, I graduated in 1988 from Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Faculty of Chemical Engineering as an electrical engineer. In 1990, I started working at Adapazarı Goodyear Tire Factory as an electrical project engineer. I worked in various roles including energy coordinator, energy center supervisor and engineering development specialist for nearly 16 years. Between 2005 and 2009, I served as Deputy General Manager responsible for administrative and financial affairs at İZGAZ. In 2008, I played an active role in İZGAZ's legal privatization process. During my career, I participated in various courses, seminars, training, conferences and programs on technical, administrative and personal development subjects in Turkish and English both domestically and abroad, and obtained certificates and authorizations. During my working life, I first completed an associate degree in Economics. Subsequently, I obtained my master's degree in Business Administration from Sakarya Üniversitesi Graduate School of Social Sciences. I am currently continuing my doctoral studies at Kocaeli Üniversitesi. As of 5 May 2009, I joined the İZAYDAŞ family as General Manager. I have good command of English and Arabic. I am the father of three children, two daughters and one son.

Could you provide information about İZAYDAŞ's main activities and facilities as Turkey's first waste disposal facility?

Alongside the opportunities that developing technology provides to human life, the scale of environmental pollution caused by this development is increasing rapidly day by day. To meet the needs of the rapidly growing world population, industrialization is inevitable as it depends on technological development. This increase also leads to the rapid depletion of existing natural resources and the emergence of various wastes. Our company was established in 1996 by the Metropolitan Municipality. The purpose of its establishment was to ensure the disposal of residential and industrial waste in accordance with Environmental Law. In this context, İZAYDAŞ, as Turkey's first waste disposal facility, on one hand ensures the disposal of these wastes while on the other hand generating electrical energy by transforming wastes into value. As a subsidiary of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, İZAYDAŞ fulfills all legal requirements related to our activities without compromise. We hold conformity certificates to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, ISO 10002, ISO 17025, ISO 17043 and ISO 50001 and ISO 27001 standards.

The facilities within our company are:

Clinical and Hazardous Waste Incineration and Energy Production Facility, Sanitary Landfills, Waste Transportation Services, LFG, Methane Gas to Electricity Production Facility, Waste Interim Storage Facility, İZAYDAŞ Laboratory, Waste Collection Vessels, Sea Surface Sweeping Vessels and Maritime Control and Protection Aircraft, Medical Waste Sterilization Facility, Landfill Leachate Treatment and Recovery Facility, Biogas Integrated Energy Production Facility, Yuvacık Dam Channel-type Hydroelectric Power Plant (HES) project.

Could you provide information about İZAYDAŞ's mission and vision?

Our vision is to be a leading waste recovery organization that combines experience with technology, continuously innovates itself, is environmentally and industry-friendly, customer-focused and pioneering in the sector. Our mission is to generate effective practices and solutions in waste recovery and disposal, and to increase public environmental awareness for a sustainable environment and a healthy society.

Could you provide information about your targets and projects?

We have many ongoing projects. The first of these is the Residential Waste Incineration Facility and Energy Generation Project. Under the leadership of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, a facility with 2,000 tons capacity will be built for residential waste. Currently, we are managing residential waste in our company by storing and disposing of it. We use a physical space and it will eventually be filled. Looking at the current trend, we have about 3-4 years of capacity left. We need to prepare for the next step. Under the leadership of our Metropolitan Municipality, we are working on a facility project where residential waste incineration and energy generation will take place. Our investment will have 2,000 tons capacity, approximately 40-45 MW installed capacity and will generate close to 300 million kWh of energy per year. Our other ongoing projects include the construction of a Ship Waste Reception Facility, obtaining the Maritime Emergency Response Authorization Certificate, waste preparation RDF/pre-processing, completing ERP (phase II), Software Infrastructure Integration, recovery operations, LFG facility greenhouse construction, greening of completed landfill areas, obtaining the ISO 14064 Greenhouse Gas Management System Certificate and establishing a CRM system.

Could you provide information about your laboratory and R&D activities?

İZAYDAŞ Laboratory, as a Proficiency Test Provider, is the only laboratory in Turkey with ISO 17043 Accreditation Certificate in the scope of services we provide. We provide services in the field of proficiency testing to laboratories in many activity areas, particularly environmental laboratories. Through the steps we have taken in both proficiency testing rounds and reference material production, we will prevent the importation of these services and these services will be able to be carried out in Turkey. Before İZAYDAŞ started providing proficiency testing services, the relevant laboratories were importing these services from abroad. Now they are gradually turning toward us. We have drawn a vision for the future regarding our laboratory. Our laboratory can now analyze around 300 parameters. We hold Proficiency Certificates from the Ministry and Accreditation Certificates from TÜRKAK for parameters. While continuing our operational analyses in our laboratory, we are also expanding our scope continuously and serving the market.

Through the steps we have taken in both proficiency testing rounds and reference material production, we will prevent the importation of these services and these services will be able to be carried out in Turkey.

As for R&D projects, I would first like to mention that we are in cooperation with various universities, particularly TÜBİTAK and Kocaeli Üniversitesi. On the other hand, we made improvements to the existing process in our facility and created alternative backup systems. We implemented a powder carbon spraying system and put it into operation. We conducted a trial regarding fly ash and it was successful. We are currently working on obtaining a patent for it.

Any additional comments…

Between 8-10 November, we will take our place at TURKCHEM 2018 International Chemical Industry Fair at Istanbul Fair Center with ChemLab Eurasia as the İZAYDAŞ Laboratory. We hope that TURKCHEM 2018 will provide a productive fair experience for new participants and visitors. I wish success to everyone who contributed to this organization where new developments in the sector will be introduced and problems will be discussed.