Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
1st International Conference on Sustainable Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Rethimnon, Yunanistan, 31 Ağustos - 04 Eylül 2022, ss.206-208
Introduction
The
increasing amount of waste and the disposal process has become one of the
important international problems encountered today (UNEP 2015). Worldwide rapid
population growth, change in consumption habits, urbanization and economic
development are the main reasons for the increase of the waste amount (Nair et
al. 2021). This brings about the inadequacy of current waste management
policies, while revealing the need for a sustainable and integrated waste
management policy. In developed countries such as Germany, USA and Japan,
significant success has been achieved by introducing new policies with the
introduction of various laws and regulations regarding waste management
policies (Potdar et al. 2016). However, in developing countries such as Turkey,
the importance of this issue was realized later and this caused the steps taken
to lag behind. For Turkey, the search for sustainable policies regarding waste
management ended with the recent policy implementation of the "Zero Waste
Project" realized under the responsibility of Turkish Ministry of
Environment and Urbanization. In this concept, Zero Waste Regulation was
published on 12.07.2019 in Turkey and the recycling approach became mandatory
for local administrations, public institutions and organizations, industrial
facilities, and etc. (MoEU 2019). With Zero Waste Management (ZWM), it is not
only aimed to recycle waste, it is also aimed to eliminate or minimize the
amount of waste produced by changing our consumption habits. The first step of
ZWM starts with separating the wastes of individuals in their own internal
environment (such as home, office). For this, it is necessary to increase the
awareness of individuals by increasing the practices on a local scale and to
reach the global dimension of waste recycling. Municipalities have important
duties in separate waste collection (SWC) in Turkey. Studies on SWC are
increasingly included in the literature as it is a current topic. However,
there are limited studies on the social aspect of zero waste management. In
this context, Zeytinburnu Municipality in Istanbul, Turkey which conducting a
project on collecting segregated waste more efficiently was selected as a pilot
study. Its separated waste collection application was analyzed by its social
aspect to reveal out the knowledge, attitude, behavior, expectation and
tendency of the residents.
Materials
and methods
In
order to evaluate the social impact of separate waste collection in Municipalities,
Zeytinburnu Municipality was chosen as the pilot scale in the study since a project
is carried out in the Municipality. In the project, the recyclable wastes are
collected by waste collection vehicle that comes to certain neighborhoods on
certain days and to fixed points. The residents receive a certain amount of
payment that can be used for market shopping for the recyclable waste they
bring. A survey was conducted with the residents who participate in the project
in 15-30 December 2021. The number of residents who separate their waste (participate
in the project) were approximately 10,000.
Considering the 5% margin of error and 95% confidence interval, the
sample was determined as 370 participants (RAOSOFT 2021). The questions
evaluated within the scope of the study were asked to the participants on a
3-point Likert. The questions asked were aimed at evaluating the knowledge,
attitude, behavior, expectation and tendency of the participants.
Results
and discussion
In the light of the survey results applied in the
study, almost half of the residents who collect their waste separately stated
that if the municipality did not have a project in this regard, they would not
separate their waste. In other words, the aim of half of the residents who
bring their waste in sorting the waste is the existence of an incentive
mechanism such as the income obtained from the project. It was stated that
around 70% of the participants had not received any information or training
about SWC before, and the information obtained was provided by the
municipality. To the question "Who do you think should implement the ZWM?",
62% of the participants answered that it should be done by the municipalities. When
the participants were asked what is the main motivation in waste sorting, the
answers "basic training should be given" and "incentive
mechanisms should be used" were the most preferred answers (Figure 1-a).
When the participants were asked what is the major challenge they face while
separating waste, transporting the waste to collection/store area (45%) and
having no place to separate the waste (32%) were the most given answers (Figure
1-b).
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|
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(a)
(b)
Figure 1. How can separate waste
collection practice be made more active and effective? (more than one option
could be ticked) (a), What is the major challenge you face while separating
waste? (b)
Conclusions
Understanding
the social dimension of waste reduction and separation significantly affects
the efficiency in waste management. In the present study, the knowledge and
awareness levels, motivations, and difficulties of the residents of a
municipality that carries out a discrete waste collection project were determined.
It is thought that the findings would give an idea not only in waste
management, but also in general environmental behavior. It is also thought that
these results would be a guide for decision makers and practitioners.
Acknowledgements:
This study is carried out by Marmara University, Urban Problems
and Local Government Research and Implementation Centre and Zeytinburnu
Municipality with the project supported by The Scientific and Technological
Research Council of Turkey (with the number of 1919B012105189). The authors
would like to thank all the municipal staff for their technical support.
References
MoEU,
Ministry of Environment and Urbanization of Turkish Republic (2019) Regulation
on Zero Waste Management (in Turkish), 30829/12.07.2019 https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=32659&MevzuatTur=7&MevzuatTertip=5
Nair AS,
Vaiznavi B and Durga C (2021) Solid Waste and Management. Biotica Research Today 3(5): 357-359.
Potdar A,
Singh A, Unnnikrishnan S, Naik N, Naik M and Nimkar I (2016) Innovation in
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Environmental Protection, 101:160-169.
RAOSOFT, Sample Size Calculator,
2021. http://www.raosoft.com/ samplesize.html (accessed in15.10.2021).
UNEP, United Nations Environment
Programme (2015) Global Waste Management Outlook United Nations.
https://books.google.pl/books?id=uibGDwAAQBAJ (accessed 28 December 2021).