Sustainable solid waste management in Turkey

Solid waste generated from municipal and other sources has been and continues to be a major environmental problem in Turkey as in many of the developing countries. Initially concentrated on the western coast of Turkey, Turkish industry has been growing rapidly and steadily, and, increasingly it is making inroads into the urban areas. Both variety of manufactured industrial products and their consumption in ever increasing quantity are generating increasingly greater amounts of industrial wastes to be disposed of safely and without causing adverse environmental impacts. In Turkey the collection and transportation of solid waste are generally well organised, but the disposal of wastes collected from municipal, industrial and agricultural. sources is less than satisfactory to say the least. Much of it is dumped haphazardly into the nearest lowlands or river valleys, or directly into the sea without any prior treatment. Such uncontrolled practices, especially that of disposal to unregulated 'open dumps' which is commonplace in Turkey, is posing growing and serious threat to both public health and the environment. This paper focuses on the salient aspects of the problem and the various management and regulatory measures that are being developed and implemented in Turkey for the proper management of solid waste aiming at sustainability.