EKOMAT Project Led To The Collection of 645,000 Units of Packaging Waste, and TRY 433,000 Support Was Contributed To The National Economy

The results of the first 4 months of the “EKOMAT” Project, which was implemented for the first time in Turkey with the cooperation of the BIRCAM Foundation, GCA and Park Cam, were announced to the public in Yalova. In the Press Briefing Meeting held, it was stated that with the regular increase in the number of users and the amount of collected waste, a circular economy model was created, and significant environmental gains were achieved.

On Friday, 04 November 2022, the results of the first 4 months of the EKOMAT Project were announced in the press release held in Yalova Engelsiz Cafe with the participation of Yalova Deputy Mayor Mustafa Tutuk, Bircam Foundation President Ömer Kızıl, GCA General Manager Dr. Abdullah Gayret, Park Cam Deputy General Manager Çetin Eğri.

“We aim to increase the awareness we ignited”

Stating that they are content with the results of the EKOMAT project so far, of which they are a business partner, GCA General Manager Dr. Abdullah Gayret said, “We are proud of contributing to nature and the environment thanks to this project we started for a more livable world.  We hope that this step for social responsibility we started in Yalova, will set a valuable example for zero waste projects created throughout Turkey. We hope that this recycling awareness will spread all over Turkey. This project is of great importance not only in terms of sustainability, but also in terms of economy. We are fully doing our part in this regard."

“EKOMAT Project helps us increase the amount of cullet we use in factories”

Speaking at the meeting, Park Cam Deputy General Manager Çetin Eğri said, “Cullet is the main source of glass packaging factories. The more we feed the glass furnaces, the less natural resource use, the longer the furnace life, the lower the energy cost and the lower the carbon footprint, which allows us to fulfill our responsibility towards environment. 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, quality cullet as used by European manufacturers comes to our factories as well and new bottles are produced. It is a very important development for the future.”

“We contributed TRY 433,000 to the National Economy.”

Then, in the presentation made by Eyüp Ayhan Balın, Ekomat Project coordinator, the collected data and results were conveyed to the participants.

It was stated that during the promotional activities of the Ekomat project, 500,000 people were reached through social media, the number of members approached 9,000 and a total of 645,000 beverage packages were separated at the source and collected through Ekomats. Of the beverage packages, 41% was Glass Packaging, and 59% was Plastic and Metal packaging.

In the operation of collecting the wastes generated by Ekomats, mostly electric collection vehicles are preferred so less polluting gases are given to the environment. In addition, by using the "Ekomat Waste Management App", which our software team has been working on for a long time and which was developed for the first time in Turkey for reverse vending (deposit) machines, the traceability and efficiency of the system were instantly measured. The efficiency of the field team using the electric collection vehicle has increased by making Route Planning on the software according to the Ekomat occupancy.

“Support of TRY 100,000 was granted to the family budget.”

Game codes, market and internet shopping checks worth TRY 106,261 were distributed to consumers who are members of the Ekomat system. As 94% of consumers preferred grocery and internet shopping checks, approximately TRY 100,000 support was provided to their family budgets.

In the last 4 months, our project has made significant gains for our environment and our country. Along with the recycling operations, approximately TRY 433,000 was contributed to the national economy by;

-          Reducing natural resource consumption by 52,621 kg.,

-          Achieving oil savings equivalent to 1 day fuel consumption of 6,350 vehicles,

-          Decreasing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to cleaning 66 trees in 1 year,

-          Saving electrical energy equivalent to 1 month's energy consumption of 275 residences,

-          Lowering the amount of waste that 16 garbage trucks can carry.

“Plastic wastes will be used to  produce Winter Coats and Metal wastes will be used in the production of Toothpaste Tubes”

We created a circular economy model by converting cullet collected under the project into new glass beverage bottles, plastic wastes into winter coats and metal wastes into toothpaste tubes. We want to increase the social impact of our project by carrying out social responsibility projects in the future.

 

Mobile application link: https://www.eko-mat.com/apps.html

 

EKOMAT user guide video: https://youtu.be/iOduhUcE8sE

 

16.01.2023