A three-day Symposium was held at the Haliç Congress Center in İstanbul on Nov 14-16, 2011. Yıldız Technical University was among the organizers with support from the Turkish National Committee on Solid Waste (KAKAD) and two major companies involved in waste management, ISTAÇ and IZAYTAÇ. Many companies were among the sponsors, including SÜREKO Entegre Atık Yönetimi ve Atıktan Enerji Üretimi Şirketi in Izmir.

Following the opening speeches by Prof. Dr Hayrullah Ağaçoğlu, Dean of Civil Engineering Faculty of Yıldız Technical University and Prof. Dr Ismail Yüksek, Rector of Yıldız Technical University, three presentations were made during the opening panel on waste management legislation in Turkey and Europe.  Dr Cevat Yaman from İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality spoke about waste management İstanbul, followed by a presentation on future trends in waste management strategies in İstanbul by Dr Senol Yıldız of ISTAÇ. Dr Mahir Erdem from the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization spoke about the development of waste management legislation in Turkey.

There were 17 sessions where various methods in waste management in various areas from biological to hazardous waste were presented and discussed. Several sessions were devoted to Landfilling, including case studies from Russia, Korea and Turkey, which, according to one speaker has close to 2,000 landfills with only 59 controlled. During the session on ‘’Thermal Technologies for Waste Disposal,’’ chaired by Prof. Dr Rafaella Pomi from Italy and Dr Maria Pilar Bernal from Spain, advanced treatment of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge in Marmara region was discussed by J. Theulen and E. Hepvar. However, there were no presentations on waste to energy through incineration. When a question was asked why this method, now being pursued in many European countries, with close to 600 WtE power plants around the world, was not being pursued in Turkey, the answer was that it was too expensive. A similar answer was given during the 3rd ‘’Waste Technologies Symposium and Exhibition’’ held on Nov. 2 – 3, 2011.

Several companies had stands where information on various aspects of waste management was disseminated, including a Brochure, ‘’Synergia – Council for Energy Recovery from Wastes’, prepared by the WERTC Council of Grece, a chapter of the Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council of US-located at Columbia University Earth Center of Civil Engineering Department. Studies are continuing for the establishment of a similiar chapter in Turkey with the support of universities and waste management companies interested in this field.

Yuksel Oktay, PE

İstanbul, 16 November 2011