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Still asking “Why solid waste, why is UNDP involved...?” Let’s simplify it. Mr. Sertaç Turhal, who is in charge of the Municipal Service Delivery component of the project answers: “UNDP has always had an integrated approach. While we are deciding on a project, we work with the Government of Turkey, in line with Turkey's own development goals and according to the needs of the municipalities. Solid waste transfer stations are part of this. To date, in the Southeast, we have completed 6 solid waste transfer plants, we are building 2 more and if we take into account the plants of the municipalities in addition to our 8 stations, this will be the first region of which solid waste transfer problem is solved in Turkey.”
There are several reasons why this project is important. UNDP does not only construct the stations, but also purchases the vehicles that will provide the transfer and delivers them to the municipality. Only Yayladağı district has a population of 60,000 producing 65-70 tons of solid waste every day. This waste needs to be transferred to the centre but since the municipality does not possess the adequate financial resources, they are not able to transfer the solid waste. So, the waste is being dumped into the sites called wild landfill. In these areas, effluent is mixed with underground water sources, hence causes health risks; biogas with economic value is released into the atmosphere as methane and becomes greenhouse gas and poses a risk of explosion. UNDP’s overall aim is to transfer the waste from wild landfill and both to eliminate the environmental threats posed by wild landfill areas and to ensure that municipalities can make financial gains even from the garbage.
Sertaç Turhal, Project Manager