Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has launched a project to separate and recycle packaging waste at home in 6 neighborhoods in 8 districts that it has determined as a pilot. Bags with QR codes on them, which will be collected from homes on a weekly basis by teams, were distributed to citizens. Izmir residents, who have embraced the project from the first day, said that they will provide all the support they can for a healthy and clean environment.
The Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has implemented the door-to-door waste collection project in Izmir, which is pioneered by European countries. The project, which was initiated to reduce packaging waste going to the Harmandalı Regular Solid Waste Storage Area, to protect the environment and to ensure that these wastes are recycled into the economy, was initially implemented in Karabağlar, Narlıdere, Menderes, Bornova, Bayraklı and will be implemented in 8 pilot neighborhoods determined in Konak.
QR coded bags were distributed
Within the scope of the project carried out in cooperation with the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Climate Change and Zero Waste Department and İZDOĞA AŞ, one of the municipality subsidiaries, a team of 60 people went door to door and distributed blue bags with QR codes to citizens. In the study supported by the district municipalities, Karabağlar Üçkuyular and Fahrettin Altay, Bayraklı Citizens who receive the bags distributed to the addresses determined in Körfez Neighborhood, Konak Kültür Neighborhood, Menderes Hürriyet Neighborhood, Bornova Evka 3, Narlıdere Sahil Evleri and Yeni Kale Neighborhood will collect their packaging waste in these bags. The teams will collect these bags from the houses on a weekly basis.
Citizens embraced the project
The recycling project also created excitement among citizens. Expressing his happiness in participating in the project, Alaattin Şensurat said, “We support this project wholeheartedly. Thank you for choosing us. I believe we will pull it off. We will work with all our might to make this project work. Recycling will be beneficial for our country, but also for İzmir. This project is something that suits İzmir. I congratulate İzmir Metropolitan Municipality.”
Another neighborhood resident involved in the project, Ümmühan Madran, said, “I hope it will be beneficial. I am the apartment manager, I will share it with our apartment. We will have a cleaner environment with this project. It is a good thing to have such an application, thank you.”
“It is very nice that it will be taken from homes”
Apartment resident Nurettin Aktaş, who said that recycling is very important, said, “Thank you very much for starting such a beautiful project. It is also very nice that the waste will be collected from home. Recycling is very important for our future. Drought and climate crisis are on the way. We are very happy to be involved in this project. It will be even better if we explain it to schools and children in schools.”
Haluk Eltutan, who is involved in the project, said, “It is truly a correct project. While the world's resources are being depleted, reclaiming them is really important. We would like to thank everyone who put them into operation. We will provide all the support we can.”
Emin Bektur stated that he believed that this project, which was implemented in Europe, would also be successful in Izmir.
Effective waste management with QR code tracking system
There is a QR code on the waste bags that the personnel will collect from households weekly. Throughout the project, information about households will be recorded in the database created by the application developed by İzmir İnovasyon ve Teknoloji AŞ, a subsidiary of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. Thus, the households and waste bags collected will be matched. The packaging waste in the collected bags will be separated according to their types at the İzDönüşüm Factory and added to the economy. Only packaging waste should be thrown into the waste bags. Those who throw organic waste into the bags distributed by the municipality will be subject to penal sanctions. With this project, which will be implemented in a short time, waste will be added to the economy and İzmir will take another important step towards reaching its zero waste goal.
What should not be put in the blue bag?
The waste that should and should not be thrown away in the distributed blue bags has also been determined. The waste that can be thrown away is; paper, cardboard, notebooks, books, newspapers, magazines, PET bottles, tin cans, cleaning packages, plastic, bags, metal and glass bottles and jars. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality officials warned citizens not to throw away cardboard cups, paper towels, tissues and napkins, straws, porcelain items, cigarette butts, chewing gum, diapers, styrofoam foam, adhesive tape, wax paper, baking paper, toothpaste tubes, single-use forks, knives, plates and packaging foam.
