Circular Economy Week of Turkey
Business Council for Sustainable Development Turkey (BCSD Turkey), Business for Goals (B4G) and DCube Circular Economy Cooperative jointly organized the first Circular Economy Week of Turkey from 1-5 March 2021. Throughout the week, topics such as SDGs, European Union Circular Economy Action Plan, The European Green Deal, Carbon Border Adjustment, Circular Economy Models and Solutions, Resource Efficiency, Sectoral Approaches, Circular Economy Innovation, and Financing Circular Economy were discussed with the perspectives of national and international experts and business representatives.
Business Council for Sustainable Development Turkey (BCSD Turkey), B4G and DCube Circular Economy Cooperative united forces to organize the first ever Circular Economy Week of Turkey with a vision to disseminate circularity knowledge throughout Turkey with a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral perspective.
At the event, “Circular Recovery Call for Action for Partnership on The Low-Carbon, Circular Recovery of Turkey” was re-launched by Ebru Dildar Edin, the President of BCSD Turkey and Hande Islak, EBRD Turkey’s Vice President.
The event attracted great attention throughout the week by hosting several speakers including Turkey Circular Economy Platform stakeholders, members and supporters. Throughout the week 30 different sessions took place where, sectoral organizations, private industries, public sector representatives, experts and other authorities shared their experiences and insights.
The opening speeches of the first day of the Circular Economy Week of Turkey started with Ümit Boyner, Head of the Business for Goals (B4G) Platform. In her speech, Ümit Boyner stated the following; “The Green Deal has already become Europe's new growth strategy, and the pandemic has accelerated this process. This new approach is starting to affect also Turkey and determines the new rules of the business world and exports. The circular economy is a new production model in which every waste generated in the production system is re-evaluated and the raw material cost is minimized and the environmental benefit is optimized. The world is going through a critical period. In this period, we, as the business world, bear the responsibility of finding and implementing new solutions and methods that will break the business as usual, which was extraordinary and difficult to imagine in the past.”
Following Mrs Boyner, Gonca Yılmaz Batur, Deputy Minister of Trade stated that the Circular Economy has become one of the top priorities for the Ministry in order to maintain close economic relations and competitiveness in foreign trade with the EU, in line with the EU’s goal of becoming a carbon-neutral continent by 2050.
“Within the scope of the green and circular economy model, we see that the EU has put forward an approach that prioritizes the concept of "sustainable product". Closely monitoring the practices of the EU within the scope of transition to a circular economy will not only be meet the rules/standards to be determined by the EU in our exports, but will also a requirement of our obligation to comply with the EU's technical legislation due to our Customs Union relationship.
In the future, every regulation that we cannot adapt in time will appear as a technical obstacle in trade. The steps to be taken in this field towards harmonization by our country as a result of the transformation in the world and especially in the EU, will ensure the standards and criteria that products must meet in the environmental sense and sustain our competitiveness in trade.”
Claudio Tomasi, Resident Representative, UNDP Turkey emphasized that the model of ‘take-make-waste’ is definitely not sustainable and practices such as reduction, reuse and recycling should be implemented. He also pointed out that as the world strives to increase well-being equally, the economic model must provide sustainable solutions to protect our planet from diminishing resources and pollution. He stated that sustainable development can only be achieved through a systemic change that takes both factors into account.
“The Circular Economy concept promises to accelerate reaching the 2030 Agenda by revealing an economy where the design process does not create waste and pollution, products and materials remain in use, the natural system renews itself and focuses on the root causes of problems. Circular Economy makes possible many of Sustainable Development Goals, namely 6th Clean Water and Sanitation, 7th Affordable and Clean Energy, 8th Decent Work and Economic Growth, 11th Sustainable Cities and Communities, 12th Responsible Consumption and Production, 13th Climate Action 14th Life Below Water, 15th Life on Land and 17th Partnerships for the Goals.”
Ebru Dildar Edin, the President of BCSD Turkey drew attention to the need for stronger climate policies and actions for a steady progress in the green transformation in her speech and continued by underlining that the most comprehensive circular economy project to accelerate this circular transition in Turkey is being carried out by BCSD Turkey thanks to the support of EBRD and stated how proud she is to see the tangible benefits this platform has created in less than a year.
“Turkey Circular Economy Platform now has more than 160 members from 24 different sectors. Through the platform 3000 tonnes of material recovery with an estimated value of EUR 750.000 including savings and revenues were successfully achieved. In addition to all of these, up to this date the platform provided grants for technical assistance to around 30 member companies with a total budget of EUR 600,000. “
By underlining the importance of the “Call for Action for partnership on the low-carbon, circular recovery of Turkey”, she emphasized that the BCSD Turkey is committed to supporting the Turkish private and public sectors in their efforts to adopt a circular economy as a guiding model to build a more resilient economy and ensure sustainable growth.
Followed by the re-launch, Bart Van Bolhuis, The Netherlands Consul General, Yaser Tai-hsiang Cheng, Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Mission, Ankara and Head of the Department of Multilateral Development Banks, Bengü Aytekin, Ministry of Treasury and Finance Turkey gave their speeches and collectively underlined the urgency for the business to step-up their efforts towards a green recovery by remarking the importance of the “Call to Action”.
From Monday 1 March to Friday 5 March 2021, the event hosted discussion sessions, sectoral talks, panel discussions, good examples were given a stage with the support of a variety of stakeholders from the public sector to the private.
Click here to see event recordings from “Circular Economy Week of Turkey” .
