526 Tons of Waste Recovered for the Economy

526 Tons of Waste Recovered for the Economy 'Zero Waste Project' delivers 526 tons of waste back into the economy through recycling as of end of 2021. Nevhan Gündüz, Chief Executive Officer of ORGE Enerji, noted that as of end of 2021, 526 tons of waste had been recovered for the economy through recycling under the Zero Waste Project: "Zero waste is defined in the literature as consuming and generating as little waste as possible, collecting separately sorted waste at source, recovering separately collected waste, and utilizing organic waste as compost and fertilizer, thereby sending no waste to landfills or incineration facilities. In Turkey, 90 percent of waste goes to unauthorized dumpsites, nature, or authorized landfills, while 10 percent goes to recycling facilities. Among OECD countries, which include Turkey, the average is 36 percent recycling and composting, 20 percent incineration for energy recovery, and 42 percent landfilling," he said. [caption id="attachment_134144" align="aligncenter"] ORGE Enerji Chief Executive Officer Nevhan Gündüz[/caption]

ORGE Recycling Program

Emphasizing the significant work carried out within the project, Gündüz stated: "During our operations, scrap waste is generated from our core consumables such as cables, plastic pipes, and cable spools. Taking cables as an example, scrap generation rates can reach 4 percent for fine-diameter cables and 2 percent for thick-diameter cables according to industry averages. Under the 'ORGE Recycling Program,' which we launched in 2015 and has recently reached significant scale, we recover nearly all of the scrap portion of cables that cannot be reused in our operations through recycling. Rather than landfilling or incinerating 526 tons of waste from cables, plastic pipes, and cable spools—which constitute 20 to 30 percent of our material costs—we recovered it for the economy through recycling. In 2021, we recycled approximately 160 tons of cable-related waste and over 258 tons of total waste, thereby preventing considerable potential environmental harm. As a company, we will continue to expand our recycling scope to make significant contributions to the Zero Waste Project in the coming period," he said.