A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRIAL TREATMENT SYSTEM IN OUR COUNTRY

Waste; It is any substance that is formed as a result of production, consumption and other human activities and that is no longer needed and desired to be removed. Wastes are managed according to the Waste Management Hierarchy, which is accepted all over the world. According to this hierarchy, the methods to be preferred regarding waste are respectively; prevention, reuse, material recycling, recovery and disposal for the purpose of obtaining energy. Our world population is increasing rapidly and technological developments and industrial production are also increasing in order to feed, clothe and shelter this population. However, the important thing is to adopt the responsible industry approach, to use the least natural resources while increasing our production and to treat the wastes we create in an appropriate way.

For an efficient waste management within industrial organizations; the waste must be identified, collected separately at the source, the temporary storage area must be established, the waste responsible must be determined, the waste must be sent to licensed companies for disposal/recovery, record keeping, personnel training, Waste Management Plan Approval and Temporary Storage Permit must be obtained. Separate wastes are generated from the office and production areas of an industrial establishment, depending on the type of production. While the offices mainly consist of Packaging Waste (paper, plastic, metal, glass) and hazardous waste (cartridge, fluorescent, electronic waste and waste batteries), hazardous wastes from production (waste engine oil, waste accumulator, end-of-life tires, contaminated cloths, oily gloves) , ash, metal burrs, contaminated packaging, pressure vessels, laboratory wastes), non-hazardous waste, packaging waste, wastewater and waste gas.
 

When industrial wastes are randomly released into the environment, they have very serious negative consequences and it is very important to choose appropriate treatment methods. Solid waste treatment and disposal methods; material recovery can be defined as biological methods (biostabilization, biodrying, composting, biotexturing), thermal methods (incineration, gasification) and landfill. Wastewaters can also be classified as biological treatment, advanced biological treatment and chemical treatment. Gas wastes are purified by methods such as scrubber gas washing systems, jet pulse filters for dusty wastes, bag filters, electrostatic filters, biofilters for chemical or biological odor removal, photoionization. In the selection of the appropriate method; The composition, moisture content, density, carbon/nitrogen ratio, calorific value, climatic and geographical conditions of the waste should be considered.

While waste production is high in developed and wealthy countries/regions, waste production decreases in less developed countries/regions. While 1.67 billion tons of industrial waste is generated annually in the world, the annual amount of industrial waste in the USA is 300 million tons, 85% of which is recycled. In the EU, 180 million tons of waste was produced from production activities in 2018. In recent years, especially with the determination of Circular Economy strategies, the amount of waste going to disposal has decreased by 9%.

According to the latest report published by TURKSTAT, 104.8 million tons of waste was generated in manufacturing industry workplaces, mining enterprises, thermal power plants, organized industrial zones (OIZ), health institutions and households in our country in 2020, total waste increased by 10.5% compared to 2018. . In 2020, a total of 23.9 million tons of waste, 4.6 million tons of which is hazardous, was generated in the manufacturing industry. 56.3% of the total waste was sold or sent to licensed waste treatment facilities, 24.2% was sent to landfills, 7.1% was stored at the workplace, 7% was recovered on-site, 3.2% . On the other hand, 279 thousand tons of waste was generated in OIZs, 117 thousand tons of which was dangerous. 6 thousand tons of the waste generated was recovered or temporarily stored within the OIZ, 208 thousand tons were recovered outside the OIZ, and 66 thousand tons were disposed of within the OIZ or outside the OIZ.

In a world where natural resources are rapidly depleted and climate changes due to global warming are a fact of our lives, we need to change our "problematic" production habits. In this context, the world now prefers the circular economy approach. According to this approach, as of 2035, 65% of domestic wastes are recycled and at most 10% are stored, 70% of packaging wastes are recycled by 2035, as of 2030; Targets such as 167 TWh energy savings, 46 million tons of CO2 emission reduction, 727 million m3/year water savings were set. Apart from this, there is also the fact of the Green Deal, which will lead to brand new applications in international trade. In other words, it will be essential requirements for our country's industrialists to manage their production-related wastes in the most appropriate way, to reduce their carbon and water footprints, to zero them if possible, to offer their products to the market.

In this regard, we have entered a period in which projects that started with Zero Waste practices and put climate change on the agenda are increasing. In Turkey, where new investment plans for recycling and waste management are on the agenda, an investment of approximately 9.5 billion Euros is foreseen for solid wastes within the scope of the 2007-2023 projection. It is planned that 52 percent of the said investment will be realized by central and local governments, 16 percent by the private sector, and the rest by EU and other grant funds.