The United Nations climate conference, known as COP31, is currently taking place in the Turkish resort town of Antalya. As global leaders gathered on Wednesday, the host nation urged delegates to commit to a comprehensive zero-waste initiative. The primary goal of this plan is to reduce global waste by half within the next decade, a move intended to lower emissions and help bring global climate efforts back on track.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan highlighted his country's progress in this area during the leaders' summit. He noted that Turkey's recycling rate has increased significantly, rising from approximately 13 percent in 2017 to about 40 percent by the end of 2025. Erdogan stated that 90 million tons of waste have been reintegrated into the economy and pledged that the nation would continue its efforts until the goal of zero waste is achieved.
The Turkish first lady, Emine Erdogan, has been a central figure in driving this initiative. The program focuses on reducing methane emissions, minimizing food waste, and promoting a circular economy where materials are consistently reused and recycled. Turkey has outlined ten key priorities for this year's talks, with the acceleration of electrification and zero-waste efforts serving as major topics in the opening days of the conference.
Energy experts suggest that these initiatives could help slow global warming and reduce the environmental footprint of renewable energy technologies, such as solar panels and batteries. Samed Agirbas, president of the nonprofit Zero Waste Foundation and a high-level climate champion for COP31, explained that recovered materials can become more cost-effective when reliable supplies and efficient processing outweigh the costs of collection and transport.
Despite the potential benefits, some observers remain cautious. Berk Butan, who heads the waste campaign for Greenpeace Turkey, described the zero-waste target as positive but emphasized the need for concrete measures to support it. He noted that while the goal is sound, it is fundamental to recognize its current shortcomings and ensure further action is taken.
Methane is the second largest cause of climate change after carbon dioxide. The United Nations recently had to readjust its decades-old goal for limiting global temperature rise because the world was exceeding previous thresholds. Although Turkey is pushing for countries to commit to reducing methane, it has not yet signed the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to cut emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030.
Turkey faces some scrutiny over its own climate record, as it is currently the world's fifth-largest emitter of methane from solid waste, according to the nonprofit emissions tracker Climate TRACE. Agirbas acknowledged that methane emissions from waste disposal remain an important challenge that must be addressed.
Implementing a circular economy is seen as a vital strategy for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Ke Wang, an energy expert at the WRI's Polsky Center for the Global Energy Transition, endorsed this approach. However, recycling food waste is difficult due to its rapid decomposition, which makes separation and processing expensive. Many countries lack the specialized logistics and infrastructure required to handle wet and smelly food waste efficiently.
Adalberto Maluf, a senior official in Brazil's environment ministry, highlighted the scale of the issue, stating that waste and food loss account for almost 10 percent of total emissions. He stressed the need to integrate these actions into broader climate strategies. Meanwhile, the recycling of already-mined materials is crucial for reducing reliance on new mining, a need that will grow as the world depends more on renewable technologies that require critical minerals.
The International Energy Agency estimates that scaling up recycling could lower the need for new mining by between 25 and 40 percent by 2050. Currently, most countries prefer mining because it is cheaper, and the necessary recycling technology is concentrated in a few nations, including China. Aimee Boulanger, executive director of the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, called for better material retrieval and reuse, emphasizing the need for incentives to support circular systems.
