Procedures and Principles on the Establishment and Operation of Waste Collection Centres and Zero Waste Practices

The Procedures and Principles on the Establishment and Operation of Waste Collection Centres and Zero Waste Practices were presented by the Environmental Management General Directorate of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, approved by the Minister and put into force by a document dated 31 December 2021. They are not a regulation published in the Official Gazette; the document carries no Official Gazette date or number. Their aim is to set the administrative and technical rules for zero waste management practices and for the waste collection centres established so that recyclable waste can be separated and collected separately at source and dropped off for recovery or disposal (Article 1). Their legal basis is the Waste Management Regulation (Official Gazette No. 29314 of 2 April 2015) and the Zero Waste Regulation (Official Gazette No. 30829 of 12 July 2019) (Article 3).

Who is bound by these procedures and principles?

Responsibility for establishing and operating the zero waste system lies with local authorities and with buildings and campuses such as public institutions, organised industrial zones, industrial and commercial facilities, airports, shopping centres, educational institutions, health facilities, accommodation facilities, site and household management bodies, chain supermarkets, cafeterias and restaurants, cargo companies, and places selling packaged products under distance contracts (Article 5). These places set up at least two collection systems: blue equipment for recyclable waste and dark grey equipment for other waste (Articles 7 and 8).

How is waste separated at source?

Paper and cardboard, glass, metal, plastic and composite waste are collected in blue “Recyclable Waste” equipment, while waste unsuitable for recycling, such as kitchen waste and wet wipes, goes into “Other Waste” equipment (Article 7(1)). Paints, chemicals, fluorescent lamps, batteries, waste electrical and electronic equipment, waste medicines, bulky waste and waste vegetable oils are taken separately to waste collection centres or collection points (Article 7(2)). Chain supermarkets with a closed sales area of 400 square metres or more set up collection points for batteries, small household electrical appliances and textile waste (Article 7(11)). During collection, recyclable waste is managed under code “15 01 06 Mixed packaging waste” and other waste under “20 03 01 Mixed municipal waste” (Article 10).

How is a waste collection centre established and operated?

Local authorities must establish, or have established, waste collection centres so that the municipal waste and similar commercial and institutional waste listed in Annex 1 can be collected separately without mixing and dropped off for transfer to waste treatment facilities (Article 11(1)). A centre is built on at least 1,000 square metres; where that is not possible, authorities with a population of up to 20,000 build a centre of at least 300 square metres, and larger populations are served by centres totalling 600, 1,000 or 1,200 square metres (Article 11(3)-(4)). An approval letter is obtained from the provincial directorate for each centre (Article 11(6)).

Technical requirements include a concrete or asphalt floor, a covered storage area, fire precautions, a weighbridge and a data system recording incoming and outgoing waste (Article 12). Centres do not accept waste other than that listed in Annex 1 and may not carry out any physical, chemical or biological conversion, recovery or disposal other than volume reduction and packaging (Article 13). They must be registered in the Ministry’s online programme and report incoming and outgoing waste through it (Article 13(4)).

What does it mean for destruction and recycling?

This document does not regulate the destruction of products; it regulates the separation and collection of waste at source and its routing to recovery or disposal. The Annex 1 waste accepted at collection centres includes paper, glass, metal and plastic packaging waste, batteries, fluorescent lamps, waste electrical and electronic equipment, waste medicines, waste oils, tyres, and hazardous waste such as solvents, acids and alkalis. Collected waste is sent to waste treatment facilities; the centres carry out no operation other than volume reduction (Article 13(2)(f)).

Local authorities may also set up recyclable waste transfer centres, where non-hazardous paper, glass, metal, plastic, composite and textile waste from households and similar sources is accumulated before reaching waste treatment facilities; only accumulation takes place there, with no sorting (Article 16). Points of sale and industrial establishments may accumulate packaging waste in the area covered by their certificate; activities such as mechanical separation, size reduction, pressing and baling are not carried out, and non-hazardous waste so accumulated is sent to licensed facilities (Article 18). On the prevention side, measures include reducing single-use items and avoiding excess packaging in distance sales (Article 6).

How are inspection and sanctions handled?

The conformity of centres is assessed by provincial directorates with an approval letter in the Annex 3 format, and activities are monitored, checked and inspected by the Ministry or the provincial directorate. In case of non-conformity, the approval of a waste collection centre may be revoked and its activity partly or fully, temporarily or permanently suspended, with existing waste sent to waste treatment facilities (Article 14). Those who breach the procedures face the sanctions provided in the Environmental Law No. 2872 (Article 19). The Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change carries out the document (Article 21). According to the Ministry’s announcement, the document was issued following the amendments made to the Zero Waste Regulation on 9 October 2021.