Turkish waste management system unfortunately is not a priority policy area. According to OECD data from 2019, Turkey recycles ~ 12% of its domestic waste, sending the rest to the landfill. By 2023, the recycling rate is aimed to reach 35 % and 60% by 2030. Despite the low-developed culture of recycling among locals, there are lots of recycling plants in Turkey. The problem is that most of them are struggling from lack of resources for further recycling – therefore they import waste from other countries. There is no specific fine for those who fail to sort trash: the level of sorting in the country is still quite poor. But intentional pollution of the environment is punishable by law by up to five years in prison (according to the Turkish Penal Code). The degree of the punishment is decided by the severity of the pollution and its impact on the environment.

There are no centralized recycling stations with different types of waste accepted for citizens in Istanbul, Turkey. At the same time, it’s worth mentioning several interesting peculiarities of the recycling process in Turkey.

~80 % of the recycling is handled by informal waste pickers (see photo below). In Turkey, there are estimated to be as many as 500,000 waste pickers (called “toplayıcılar”). Those making a living via the collection of recyclables off the street and from waste bins. This number is only an estimate as there is no official data kept on them (they are not employed or paid for this job officially).

Mobile Waste Gain Vehicle (“Zero Waste Neighbourhoods”). In some cities and particular districts (for example in Zeytinburnu district, Istanbul) there is a special program launched that aims to attract locals to better environmental practices by fattening their wallets. How it works: citizens collect recyclable types of waste at home, which can then bring it to special static points of waste collection or to Mobile Waste Recovery Vehicle (which tours daily through the streets of the district), Then the waste is weighted and depending on the weight virtual points are added on the magnetic card.

Then these points can be transferred into discounts in any shop, fast-food point – wherever there is a bank card terminal. Valuable fractions are paper, plastic, metal, glass packaging waste, vegetable waste oils, waste batteries, electrical waste, electronic equipment, and waste fluorescent tubes. More details you can find here (+links to the project’s official website).

Rare waste types accepted in Istanbul: spray (pulverizer) are accepted in zero-waste shop Dükkan (Gazi Muhtar Paşa Sokak No 57/1 Feneryolu, Kadikoy, Istanbul).

Recycling bins are usually installed near houses closer to the road in the city center. Also, dedicated bins can be found in big shops (“BIM”, “Carrefour”) and shopping malls: Emaar Square Mall, Meydan Shopping Mall, Istinye Park.

• Glass: green & white bi-colored bins;
• Paper, Plastic, Metal: blue-colored bins.

Batteries and E-waste collection points are usually located in mobile operator centers (TurkCell, TurkTelecom). We also noticed dedicated red bins for batteries in some “BIM” markets (called “pil atiklari” in Turkish).

Usually, big recycling containers have dedicated windows for batteries (“Atik pil“) and E-waste (“Electronik Atiklar”). Such bins are quite often (but not always) located near schools.

It feels like textile is the most popular type of waste in Turkey in general and this region particularly – I made such a conclusion based on a huge number of dedicated bins. There are lots of textile and shoes bins across Istanbul city. Usually, you can find them near houses or near the road on the streets (find photo examples in the gallery). Based on official information the textile waste that is thrown into these Textile-dedicated bins is selected and sent to the Social Assistance Stores, while unusable textile waste is sent for recycling.

Despite we did not find dedicated bins for organic in Istanbul there is a governmental factory (ISTAC company) that proceeds organic waste into compost. We are sure that it really makes sense to sort all types of waste, including organic in Istanbul: here you can be more or less sure that organic will be composted due to the availability of dedicated factory resources. Where there’s demand, there’s supply!

In some big shops (“Carrefour”, for example) and big dedicated recycling containers (usually placed near schools), you can also find separate bins for vegetable waste oil (called “bitkisel atık yağ“ in Turkish). If you use oil a lot during cooking you can fill any empty bottle with oil waste when it’s already cold and bring it for further recycling into bio-diesel – an environmentally friendly fuel. Don’t pour used oil down the drain as it can cause blockages.

Grey trash cans can be used to throw away other waste types that are not suitable for recycling (find an example in the photo gallery).