In Istanbul there is currently over 17,000 tonnes of waste collected every day by the 39 municipalities. Once collected the municipalities transport the waste to transfer stations, from where companies such as Istanbul Environmental Management, Industry and Trading Company (İSTAÇ) take over.
Founded in 1994 as an affiliate company of İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the company is one of the largest waste management firms in Turkey.
In accordance with the 2023 vision, which aims at crowning the 100th anniversary year of the Republic with science and technology, the city has a target is to minimise the amount of waste sent to final disposal by introducing new methods in recycling of waste.
Faced with landfill diversion targets, İSTAÇ has begun working towards developing on the city’s first waste to energy plant. The planned facility will be huge, with a processing capacity of some 3000 tonnes per day.
Having considered various energy recovery technologies the company has reached the conclusion that traditional mass burn incineration with energy recovery is the most prudent means forward. While a technology supplier is yet to be selected various proposals are currently being considered.
The city also plays host to one of the largest composting facilities in the world. Also operated by İSTAÇ that plant produces organic fertiliser from waste. On top of this Istanbul has a biodrying facility with a capacity of 2000 tonnes/day, where wastes are recycled through mechanical and biological processes and alternative fuel is derived.
Gas from a major landfill site is also being harnessed to generate 50 MWh of electricity, as well as heating a greenhouse growing seasonal plants.
It is intended that the Energy produced at the planned to waste to energy plant will produce around 70 MW of electricity, enough to cover the energy needs of 1.5 million people. It is to be located within 20 km of İstanbul’s European side.
Once operational it will enable a 20% reduction in the amount of wastes sent to landfill in Istanbul and will be Turkey’s first Municipal Solid waste incineration plant.
There are also plans being drawn up to develop a 45,000 tonne per year anaerobic digestion plant for processing the city’s organic wastes.
As Istanbul looks to improve on the 84% of waste it currently landfills projects there will likely be many more such projects. Outside of the capital, advances to Turkey’s waste management systems may move more slowly, but as the country looks to modernise it has adopted a number of regulations from the European Union which will help to drive change.
Fatih Hoşoğlu, operations manager ISTAC A.S
