Aegean Exporters' Associations Increase Sustainable Production

The European Union's declaration through the Green Deal to reduce carbon footprint by 50% by 2030 and to zero by 2050 has accelerated activities within the sectors under the Aegean Exporters Associations, which will increase sustainable and environmentally conscious production they have adopted for years through Sustainable UR-GE projects implemented with the support of the Ministry of Trade. Jak Eskinazi, Coordinator President of the Aegean Exporters Associations and Chairman of the Board of the Aegean Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association, emphasizing that sustainability is now the issue most sectors will face and that no company can produce without feeling responsibility towards the world, views the Green Deal as a new growth and development approach. "We have been conducting our sustainability activities in the social sphere for years. This year, we have also added Sustainability UR-GE to our Association's activities, providing support to enable our companies to achieve transformation in corporate and environmental areas. "Developing Sustainable Competition in the Textile Sector" UR-GE Project has begun accepting company applications. For project participant companies, a needs analysis will first be conducted by a professional consulting firm. Trainings and technical consulting activities will be designed according to the results. Obligations within the legal legislation applicable to companies will be identified and necessary actions will be reported. Conducting technical activities such as identifying environmental impacts of company operations and processes, reporting emissions according to international standards, and increasing energy efficiency through energy audits is planned. In addition to these sample activities, technical consulting activities will be conducted regarding issues identified during the needs analysis process that require improvement in companies."

Production costs reduced by TRY 18.3 million

Birol Celep, Deputy Coordinator President of the Aegean Exporters Associations and Chairman of the Aegean Dried Fruits and Processed Products Exporters Association, drew attention to the fact that "Lean Production Techniques" training in the Turkish Dried Fruits UR-GE Project, which began in 2019 under the coordination of the Ministry of Trade, is one of the most important activities related to sustainability, and continued as follows: "From 18 companies in our project, 9 benefited from consulting services in production, maintenance and quality processes to ensure customer satisfaction and increase profitability. While using lean methods for employee development and improvement of operational processes, TRY 600,000 in government support was utilized over an 8-month activity period. Production costs were reduced by TRY 18.3 million across the sector. Production rate per unit increased, error and waste rates decreased, and more importantly, the foundations for continuous improvement thinking were established in businesses. Within the project scope, companies achieved significant gains in the objectives of: reducing quality-related cost-increasing problems such as "waste, errors, customer returns," shortening product flow time, reducing machine downtime and downtime duration, improving the way employees work and increasing productivity, reducing costs, and improving employee motivation through these activities. For the next phase, we have begun preparations to move to the second stage consulting activities, which in addition to production, quality and maintenance processes, will also include warehouse, inventory management, internal logistics and production planning, strategy, budgeting and lean product cost management processes."

Our goal is to make our region a green manufacturing hub

Burak Sertbaş, Chairman of the Aegean Ready-Made Garments and Confection Exporters Association, noted that with the support of the Ministry of Trade, the "Developing Sustainable Competition in the Ready-Made Garments Sector UR-GE Project" which began in 2019 primarily covered a needs analysis study including one-on-one visits with companies, through which a roadmap was prepared. "Critical deficiencies of 22 project participant companies were identified and grouped under three sub-headings around sustainable textiles (Operational Sustainability, Managerial Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability). To address these deficiencies, 2 consulting programs on "Environmental Sustainability" and "Operational and Managerial Sustainability" were implemented. In the coming period, we will continue to support our companies in taking environmental action. Our goal is to make our region a green manufacturing hub. As customer demands increase, the cost of sustainable production spending by our companies is rising daily. Providing government support for sustainable production expenditures by our companies would be beneficial for the sector's international competitiveness."

EHKİB created a driving effect in sustainable development

Sertbaş, noting that they closely follow rising trends in the sector, stated: "As an association, we are planning our new-period strategies in line with sustainability and digitalization concepts that determine our sector's agenda. Before the pandemic, we began work to change the negative perception our sector had in public opinion regarding the environment, and we declared 2020 as "Sustainability Year." To briefly summarize our sustainability work: we organized numerous organizations and projects including the Sustainability UR-GE project, United Nations Global Compact membership, one of the world's largest civil sustainability initiatives, and the Fashion Revolution Exhibition. In fact, this year we set the theme of EİB's 15th Fashion Design Competition as Tech-Tility within the framework of sustainability and digitalization, and held the competition in the digital environment in December. Additionally, we organize webinar events and training to raise member awareness in the sustainability field," he said.

Green hydrogen technologies for zero-carbon production in the iron and steel sector

Yalçın Ertan, Chairman of the Aegean Iron and Non-Ferrous Metals Exporters Association, stated that making industry greener, circular and digital, thereby contributing to sustainability and increasing efficiency, forms the foundation of green industrial policy. "Our sector is among those most affected by carbon border tax. For this reason, we have formed a working group on reducing carbon footprint. We will undertake initiatives in circular economy matters such as transition to green energy, using hydrogen instead of coal, producing direct reduced iron by using natural gas instead of coal to obtain semi-finished products like DRI/HBI requiring less carbon emissions. Through the "Developing Sustainable Competition in the Iron and Non-Ferrous Metals Sector" UR-GE Project to be launched by our Association with the support of our Ministry of Trade, we aim to make our companies' planning and production processes more efficient, and develop them in areas such as carbon emissions and energy efficiency."

Leather sector leads in innovation

Erkan Zandar, Chairman of the Aegean Leather and Leather Products Exporters Association, noting that the search for sustainability strengthens in each generation, mentioned that the majority of younger generations—59% of Generation Z and 57% of Generation Y—purchase recycled products. "Most importantly, Generation Z is on the path to becoming the largest consumer generation. Therefore, we must both keep pace with new generation consumers' sustainability expectations and produce initiatives in line with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and lead in innovation through impact investing. For this reason, we launched our "Developing Sustainable Competition in the Leather and Leather Products Sector" UR-GE project. Design is the most important part of this work. Technology-based solutions will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 9.1 billion tons in the coming years. In our sector, there are successful examples in Turkey and worldwide of those who are part of this ethical change, tanning with methods free of harmful chemicals, using sustainable eco materials, and developing leathers that integrate with nature. A new carbon-free order is being established. Through our UR-GE project, our companies will make great strides in sustainability management and carbon management, planning and production processes, social compliance, design and marketing."

Sustainable mining is the new world standard

Mevlüt Kaya, Chairman of the Aegean Mining Exporters Association, disclosed that while total mining exports are around USD 5 billion, the raw materials of mining export-subject products, when based on all other sectors, provide USD 50 billion in added value to the country's economy. "Our minerals are values held by 83 million people. We must use these values at optimum levels in a sustainable manner sensitive to the environment and society. Recently, with our "Improving Occupational Health and Safety in the Mining Sector" project financed by the European Union and our country, we took an important step for human resource sustainability. In three consecutive "Our Life is Mining" workshops we conducted, sustainable mining was a priority agenda item. Utilizing the outputs from the workshops, through our "Developing Sustainable Competition in the Mining Sector" UR-GE project, we will further enhance our companies' competencies in efficient resource use, waste and water management, and sustainability reporting. We will enable them to determine carbon policies in accordance with Sustainable Development Goals and transform the new order into an opportunity dimension."