Strategy Development Workshops were held in Ankara within the scope of Technical Assistance for Assessment of Türkiye’s Potential on Transition to Circular Economy (DEEP Project) carried out by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change to encourage Türkiye's transition to a circular economy and to strengthen Türkiye's institutional and technical capacity in transition to a circular economy in line with the EU Circular Economy Model.
Strategy Development Workshops were opened by Dr. İsmail Raci Bayer, Head of Department, EU Investments Department, General Directorate of European Union and Foreign Relations, Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, and Ms. Sadiye Bilgiç Karabulut, Head of Circular Economy and Waste Management Department, Directorate General of Environmental Management, Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change.
Topics such as consumption, production, waste management, secondary raw materials, priority areas, investment, and cross-cutting issues were discussed during the workshops held at İlbank Social Facilities on May 9-10-11 and May 16-17-18, 2023. Monitoring progress, sustainable product policy, key product value chains, less waste, and more value were also debated. Furthermore, the 2015 and 2020 EU Circular Economy Action Plans were examined, focusing on all the actions outlined in those plans. The Action Plans were evaluated within the context of Türkiye.
On the first day of the workshops, informative presentations were made on the progress of the project and the EU Circular Economy Action Plans. Presentations delivered on the following topics: “EU Circular Economy Action Plan and Different Country Practices,” “Recent Actions and Initiatives Proposed in the Scope of the EU Circular Economy Action Plan,” “Progress in DEEP Project and Summary General Assessment Report,” “The First Study Visit to the Netherlands and Belgium in the scope of the DEEP Project: Lessons Learnt,” “Preliminary Outputs of the Sectoral Impact Assessment Study Conducted in the Scope of the DEEP Project,” “Institutional Visits and Market Survey Conducted in the Scope of the DEEP Project” and “Circular Plastics and Roadmap for Single Used Plastics and Marine Litter” by foreign and local experts in the technical assistance team of the Project.
The second day of the workshops were focused on structuring the National Circular Economy Strategy. Thematic working groups were formed with the participation of public institutions and organizations and private sector representatives. In this working groups consisting of sector representatives were formed and provided feedback and suggestions on “Strategic Goals,” “Elaborating the Strategic Goals with Key Objectives,” “Prioritization of Key Value Chains.”
On the last day of the workshop, the draft actions to be included in the National Circular Economy Action Plan were developed. The actions were detailed with the responsible institutions, schedule, possible costs, and risks encountered in implementation. Actions developed by sectoral groups were developed by focusing on the application areas of “Actions on Regulations,” “Actions on Infrastructure, Technology and Innovation,” “Actions on Finance and Economic Instruments,” “Actions on Institutional Structure and Cooperation”.
A total of 125 people from different institutions and organizations participated in the workshops.
