EKOMAT Project Contributed 1.3 Million TL to the National Economy

The results of the first 1 year of the “EKOMAT” Project, which was implemented for the first time in Türkiye with the cooperation of the BIRCAM Foundation, GCA and Park Cam, have been announced. In the project, which reached nearly 11 thousand members in a 1-year period and supported the collection of 1.6 million units of packaging waste, significant gains were achieved on behalf of the environment and the country, and TRY 1.3 million was contributed to the national economy.

The 1-year results of the "EKOMAT" Project, created in cooperation with BIRCAM Foundation, GCA and Park Cam, have been announced. The number of members of the EKOMAT Project reached nearly 11 thousand people, and 1.6 million beverage packages were separated at source and collected through Ekomats in one year. During the emptying of Ekomats, electric collection vehicles were mostly preferred, resulting in fewer polluting gases released into the environment. By sending the recovered products to the municipality's regular storage facility, waste equivalent to 45 garbage trucks was saved in terms of space.

"Recycling holds great importance both environmentally and economically."

Stating that they are happy with the results of the EKOMAT Project, of which they are a business partner, so far, GCA General Manager Dr. Abdullah Gayret said, “As GCA, we follow technological developments to prevent environmental pollution, aim to recycle waste as much as possible, and dispose of non-recyclable waste without harming the environment. This is because our project is of great importance not only in terms of sustainability, but also in terms of economy. Therefore, we have implemented this project that aims to protect the environment in every aspect, raise public awareness about sustainability, and encourage the integration of recycling as a part of daily life. As part of our project, we placed 34 EKOMAT deposit machines at 15 different locations in Yalova to achieve 100% recycling of glass, plastic, and metal beverage packaging. The project enables citizens to earn points worth money through a mobile application by recycling glass, metal, and plastic, contributing to the economy while also supporting the reduction of the carbon footprint. With our EKOMAT project aimed at raising consumer awareness to recycle packaging materials, we have created an exemplary model. With the ability to instantly monitor data thanks to its local software, our project is "the digital transformation of recycling", and our goal is to introduce the culture of packaging recycling to our country through this two-year project."

 

“With the EKOMAT Project, we increase the amount of cullet we use in factories”

Park Cam Deputy General Manager Ergin Öz made the following evaluation: “Cullet is the food source of glass packaging factories. The more we feed cullet into furnaces, the less natural resource use, the longer the furnace life, the lower the energy cost and the lower the carbon footprint, the more responsibilities towards the environment are fulfilled. While glass packaging manufacturers in Europe use cullet at a rate of 60%-70%, cullet usage rate in our country cannot reach even 10%. With the Ekomat Project, cullet of the quality used by European manufacturers comes to our factories and new bottles are produced. It is a very important development for the future.”

“We contributed TRY 1.3 Million to the National Economy.”

Emphasizing the gains of the project in terms of sustainability, Bircam Foundation President Ömer Kızıl, added "The participating consumers in the profitable recycling project EKOMAT were provided with grocery and online shopping vouchers, thus providing approximately TRY 256,000 of support to their household budgets. In the last 1 year, we have made significant gains for our environment and our country thanks to our project. Along with the recycling operations, approximately TRY 1,3 Million was contributed to the national economy by; reducing natural resource consumption by 128 tons; achieving oil savings equivalent to 1 day fuel consumption of 16,675 vehicles; decreasing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to cleaning 180 trees in 1 year; saving electrical energy equivalent to 1 month's energy consumption of 720 residences; lowering the amount of waste that 45 garbage trucks can carry. As part of the project, the collected glass cullet have been transformed into new glass beverage bottles, plastic waste into textile products, and metal waste into personal care items like toothpaste tubes, creating a circular economy model. In the future, we aim to further increase the social impact of our project by continuing our social responsibility initiatives."

 

21.07.2023