Circular Economy Opportunities in the Textile Industry

The first sectoral meeting of Turkey’s Materials Marketplace project was held on 30 April, hosted by Zorlu Holding, İstanbul. The event aimed to bring together textile industry authorities to discuss the circular economy concept in the industry by examining opportunities for waste utilization and create collaboration in this direction. The event attracted considerable attention and brought together more than 80 participants from textile industry.

The meeting started with the opening speech of Konca Çalkıvik, the executive director of BCSD Turkey. Then, Burcu Tuncer from UN Environment Regional Activity Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production, made a presentation and provided brief information about UN Sustainability Fashion İnitiatives. Following Mrs. Tuncer, Aslı Pasinli, WWF, took the stage and informed the participants about their Circular Economy Project which is developed by the various project stakeholders from Textile industry in Turkey. Gulin Yücel from Brika Sustainability finalized the opening session with her presentation on Circular Economy Transition and Digitalism.

In order to detail EBRD’s support mechanism, Münevver Bayhan, BCSD Turkey Project Manager, provided detailed information on The Circular Vouchers Program which is developed to provide technical support to the TMM members in developing materials exchanges.

The sectoral meeting continued with the session,in which Prof.Emine Dilara Koçak, Prof. Dr. Hale Canbaz and Prof. Dr. Şule Altun Kurtoğlu presented their studies and projects on textile industry’s circular economy opportunities, waste utilization methods etc. In the workshop, the participants developed the project ideas with the help of experts, found the opportunity to identify and evaluate the main issues they need investment, technical support and R&D.

In the workshop, the participants developed the project ideas with the help of experts, found the opportunity to identify and evaluate the main issues they need investment, technical support and R&D.

In the last part of the sectoral meeting, Orta Anadolu, Kipaş Holding and Reysan İplik shared their experiences with their outstanding projects on circular economy and waste utilizations.