Extended Producer Responsibility (GÜS) is an effective model in the fulfillment of recycling goals in waste management. GÜS enables the industry to provide financial, technical, operational, and communicative contribution to the process. This text gives data of the contribution of the recycling works ÇEVKO has carried out with the GÜS model in order to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the combat with climate change.
GÜS model is the name given to the model organized by fillers, packers, importer brand owners especially in the position of launchers. These people calculate the cost of waste collection, separation, and recycling following consumption, and add this cost to the price of the product; and they establish a model in which they organize the activities of collecting, separating and recycling through authorized organizations, which, together with municipalities and licensed collecting-separating companies, give technical and financial support they get from the resources coming from the launchers for the separate collection of packaging waste at its source. They also carry out works to create awareness in the consumers and educate them on this subject.
ÇEVKO Foundation, as an authorized organization, has been in collaboration with 1.800 companies, 165 municipalities and 30 million consumers in 30 cities in Turkey since 2005 for the collection, separation, and recycling of packaging waste. The certified amount of packaging waste in 2016 by ÇEVKO is a yearly 637.566 tons.
Below are the sustainable benefits of the steadily increasing recycling activities conducted by ÇEVKO:
- Reduction in the use of raw materials, water, and energy
- Protection of trees
- Effective use of regular waste landfill
- Reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases
Twenty-five members including ÇEVKO, from PRO-Europe have developed the "CO2 Reporting Tool" to report the reduced CO2 emissions as a result of the recycling of packaging waste. PRO Europe is a non-profit structure established by 31 packaging waste recycling organizations from 31 countries among which there is ÇEVKO from Turkey. The members of PRO Europe use the Green Dot as a symbol to verify the financial support given by the industry for the collection, separation, and recycling of packaging waste.
The "CO2 Reporting Tool" calculates the reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases in the phase from the collection of the waste to the end of the recycling process. (Please see Figure).
Figure 1. Lifecycle of packages
