Vedat KILIÇ, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Vice Chairman of TOBB Waste and Recycling Sector Assembly
Vedat Kılıç, Chairman of Burkasan and Ege Atık AŞ
Vedat Kılıç, President of TÜDAM Recyclable Waste Materials Industrialists’ Association, is one of the vice presidents of TOBB Waste and Recycling Industry Assembly. Vedat Kılıç, who is also the founder of Burkasan Plastic Waste Management company, made statements to our magazine regarding the functions of the Waste and Recycling Sector Assembly and the problems of the sector. Stating that the TOBB Waste and Recycling Industry Council was established late, Kılıç said, “We are extremely happy that the sector council was established, albeit late. Until now, sector representatives have been trying to express their problems and suggestions regarding the sector on different platforms individually or through the non-governmental organizations they are members of. However, the Recycling Sector Council established within TOBB will be an umbrella organization where the entire sector is together and will enable us to develop common solutions to the problems of the sector. For this reason, I think that the work to be carried out by the Assembly will be an important element in ensuring the integration of our sector with the world in this process where the demand for recycled raw materials in the world is rapidly increasing.”
Explaining that global brands have made binding commitments to reduce their plastic consumption and use recycled plastic raw materials in their products due to the environmental impact of plastic waste in the world, Vedat Kılıç said, “In our country, global brands in different sectors are carrying out serious studies to use recycled raw materials in their products at certain rates and to reach 100% in the future. Textile, automotive and packaging sectors are leading the way in this sense. The world is rapidly evolving from a linear economy to a circular economy. Perhaps in the near future, we will witness petro-chemical plants using plastic waste instead of oil. Therefore, it would be a big mistake to look at recycling as a fashion or trend. Recycling is now in our lives and will continue to exist from now on.”
TURKEY IS ONE OF THE STRONG PLAYERS IN PLASTIC RECYCLING IN THE WORLD
After the developments in the world, Vedat Kılıç brought the word to the Turkish recycling sector and said: “Our country’s plastic recycling sector is one of the most important actors in Europe. If you ask why; for example, the cost of recycling a plastic in the UK is 300-400 pounds per ton. This is around 300 euros on average across Europe. In Turkey, on the other hand, these costs are around 100 dollars per ton. This is why the Turkish recycling sector has recently become one of the most important buyers in Europe, especially after China’s restrictions. In this context, in recent years, extremely large investments have been made in the recycling sector in our country and investments are still continuing. In this field, Turkey may become one of the world’s most important players in the recycled raw material market in the very near future. However, in the last 2 years, foreign sources have started to publish disinformative news against Turkey. The impact of this news has been great. Unfortunately, in order to prevent these news, the authority preferred to ban rather than regulate. As of the beginning of this year, especially with the import bans imposed on some of the plastic waste, the waste that could not enter Turkey turned to markets such as Germany, Poland and Italy. This market, which we dominated, is now rapidly slipping away from us.”
IMPORT BANS AND QUOTAS ARE A BLOW TO THE SECTOR
Explaining that Turkey ranks 6th in the world and 2nd in Europe after Germany in the plastics industry, Vedat Kılıç drew attention to the quotas and bans on waste imports. Pointing out that the sector has suffered with these practices, Kılıç said the following: “The annual plastic raw material consumption capacity of our plastics industry is approximately 10 million tons. Due to the low production capacity and diversity of raw materials in our country, a percentage of these raw materials
We import 85% of them as original raw materials at very high prices, for which we pay billions of dollars annually. On the other hand, a significant portion of the plastic raw materials produced in our country are produced by the recycling industry of our country as recycled raw materials as well as petro-chemical plants. Since the demand for recycled raw materials is increasing day by day, we need more waste to be able to produce. In order to meet this need, the waste within the country needs to be collected with much higher efficiency, but unfortunately, we are not making the progress we want, especially in the collection of domestic waste. Of course, the recycling sector also prefers to use local waste sources.
All plastic waste that can be collected in our country is already recycled. However, due to the incredible increase in demand and the scarcity of local waste resources, the plastic recycling sector inevitably has to turn to waste imports in order to continue its activities. At this point, I would like to emphasize the following point: Waste is not garbage, it is a raw material in itself. Therefore, measures taken to fear waste and prevent its free trade will harm both the recycling sector and the main industry in Turkey. As a result of this ban decision, which we believe is highly erroneous, our industry cannot turn this waste into a quality raw material by importing waste for 200 dollars per ton, and instead our plastics main industry imports original raw materials by paying 2,500 dollars per ton. This causes a serious increase in inflation in our country. It is true that we need to increase the amount of waste collected in our country. The recycling sector also needs waste. However, we cannot increase waste collection rates in Turkey by banning waste imports. For this reason, instead of a ban, we need to create a rational system that is auditable and accountable, that allows recycling enterprises with appropriate technology and infrastructure, that create added value for the country, to import waste. I think this is not difficult to do.”
Vedat Kılıç, who wants these problems to be discussed at the TOBB Waste Assembly, pointed out that the real members of the sector should put forward these findings. “The information obtained should be shared with the Ministry.” Kılıç emphasized the following: “The bans on waste imports and quota application is one of the first agendas of the Sector Assembly. As the sector, we of course understand the sensitivity of the state. They say, ‘We don’t want garbage coming into the country. We don’t want it to be true either. It is quite reasonable and logical. But we do not think it is right to adopt a prohibitionist attitude due to lack of supervision. This attitude harms the real recycling industrialists of the country and disrupts the plastics main industry. There is currently a chaotic situation in the plastics industry. Many businesses that have made investments will close down within a month because they cannot find waste. We need to change the view on waste. Waste is a cheap and extremely strategically important raw material.”