Türkiye is stepping up efforts to protect its environment ahead of hosting the U.N. Climate Change Conference COP31, targeting household waste management as part of its broader sustainability agenda.
Under the guidance of first lady Emine Erdoğan, the country’s “Zero Waste” initiative is entering a new phase focused on the proper disposal of used vegetable oils.
The Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry has revised the draft regulation on the management of vegetable waste oils and submitted it for institutional review.
The regulation prohibits households from pouring vegetable waste oils into sinks, sewers, the sea, sold or any other receiving environment.
Citizens will be required to deliver used oils to municipal collection points, waste drop-off centers or participating retail outlets. Municipalities will establish systems to collect oils directly from homes, create collection points and operate mobile centers.
Supermarkets and similar outlets will accept sealed containers of waste oil and transfer them to licensed facilities. Packaging for vegetable oils will carry warnings such as “Do not pour used oils into sinks.”
Collected oils will be sent exclusively to licensed biorefineries and transfer points for conversion into biodiesel or sustainable aviation fuel. Direct blending into fuel, cooking oils or use in feed or cosmetics will be banned.
Commercial kitchens, including restaurants, hotels and food factories, will be classified as “vegetable waste oil producers” and must maintain at least one-year contracts with biorefineries or transfer centers.
Experts note the environmental risks: One liter of waste oil poured into a sink can contaminate one million liters of drinking water, equivalent to the annual water consumption of roughly 15 people.
Waste oils account for approximately 25 percent of domestic water pollution.
