A circular released by the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning on September 3 limits paper and plastic recycler’s imports to a maximum of 50pc of their production capacity.
According to information shared by The Bureau of International Recycling’s (BIR) Turkish member federation TÜDAM, under the new orders, domestic recyclers would need to fulfill the rest of their infeed from domestic collections.
This quota had been at 80pc since December 2019 as agreed by the recycling industry and the Environment Ministry, the BIR notification noted. However, now the Turkish recycling companies will have to revise their plans according to the new guidelines that have reduced imports. In the next years, this import quota will be re-evaluated by taking into account the domestic waste collection rates.
The full circular is published in Turkish and can be accessed here.