Turkey includes sport in a major green initiative: zero waste enters the Olympic system
A new phase of Turkey's zero-waste policy was launched in Istanbul in mid-August, this time focused on sports facilities, competitions, camps and people participating in the Olympic system. The Turkish National Olympic Committee, or Türkiye Milli Olimpiyat Komitesi (TMOK), and the Zero Waste Foundation, Sıfır Atık Vakfı, signed a two-year cooperation protocol on 13 August 2026 through which they aim to reduce waste generation, improve separate collection and recycling, and use energy, materials and other resources in sport more efficiently. According to the Foundation's announcement, the agreement was signed by TMOK President Veli Ozan Çakır and Foundation President Samed Ağırbaş. The programme will include not only the administrations of sports institutions, but also athletes, coaches, federation representatives, competition organisers and other participants in the Olympic movement. In this way, environmental policy is being transferred from administrative and municipal systems into an area that reaches a large number of people every day and has a particularly strong influence on younger audiences.
The agreement does not envisage a single symbolic campaign, but a series of practical measures that should be implemented over two years. The Zero Waste Foundation states that waste sorting at the point of generation, the development of recycling systems, the reduction of wastefulness and more efficient use of resources will be supported at TMOK's Olympic House and other sports facilities. At national and international competitions, sports camps and other events, communication and educational activities are planned to encourage more sustainable consumption and more responsible behaviour by visitors and participants. Seminars, workshops, educational programmes, as well as the development of pilot facilities and models for more sustainable organisation of sporting events, are also planned. The partners want successful practices to then be transferred to other organisations instead of remaining limited to a few locations.
From waste sorting to new standards for sporting events
The central part of the project concerns changing the everyday functioning of sports facilities and organisations. According to the protocol presented by the Foundation, the goal is not only to install additional waste containers, but to connect procurement, consumption, the use of materials, waste separation and recycling into a single system. This means that sustainability will be incorporated into the planning of competitions and camps before an event begins, rather than being addressed only after waste has been generated. Such an approach may include the choice of packaging and consumable materials, quantities of food and beverages, the way promotional products are used, logistics, reuse of equipment and clearer instructions for participants. The partners have not yet publicly published detailed operational standards for individual facilities and competitions, so it is currently not possible to assess how much waste or resource consumption can be reduced in the first phase.
The educational part will also be important in the sports system. The Foundation states that, through Olympic educational programmes and athlete development activities, the topics of sustainability and zero waste will be conveyed to athletes, coaches and representatives of sports federations. This gives the project a broader reach than technical waste management, because athletes and coaches can transfer the same patterns of behaviour to clubs, local communities and their own public appearances. On the occasion of the signing, TMOK President Veli Ozan Çakır emphasised that he does not view sport only through results and international competitions, but also as a space in which athletes are developed into people who can serve as an example to others through their behaviour. Samed Ağırbaş, President of the Zero Waste Foundation and COP31 High-Level Climate Champion, stated that the goal is to create a sports ecosystem in which waste is not only reduced, but wastefulness is simultaneously prevented and a culture of sustainable living is developed.
Sport becomes a communication channel for zero-waste policy
The choice of sport as the next area for expanding the initiative is not accidental. Sporting competitions bring together a large number of people in a relatively small space, which causes food and beverage consumption, packaging use, transport, energy consumption and the amount of waste to increase in a short period of time. At the same time, sport has a strong communication effect: the behaviour of athletes, clubs and organisers is often transmitted far beyond the stadiums and arenas themselves. In recent years, the United Nations Environment Programme has warned that major sporting events can generate significant amounts of waste, but also that a large part of this burden can be avoided through better planning, reuse and circular-economy approaches. For this reason, measures such as reducing single-use plastics, returnable packaging, separate collection and more sustainable procurement are increasingly appearing in the plans of organisers of major international competitions.
The International Olympic Committee has for years treated sustainability as part of the strategic development of the Olympic movement. In its guidelines for sports organisations, key topics include sustainability management, responsible procurement, reducing plastics and waste, and creating a more circular system in which materials are reused and recycled. Through the Sustainability Essentials programme, the IOC has published special practical guides for national Olympic committees, international federations and organisers of sporting events. The Turkish project therefore fits into a broader international direction, but its actual significance will depend on whether the agreed measures become measurable standards in facilities and events and whether the results are regularly monitored publicly. For now, the objectives, areas of cooperation and education plan have been published, while specific performance indicators for individual locations have not been presented.
The project builds on an initiative launched in 2017
Turkey's zero-waste policy has been developing institutionally since 2017, when a national project aimed at preventing waste generation, separate collection and increasing material recovery was launched under the patronage of Emine Erdoğan. According to data from Turkey's Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, the waste recovery rate increased from approximately 13 percent in 2017 to 37.53 percent by the end of 2025. The Ministry states that from the beginning of the project through the end of 2025, a total of about 90 million tonnes of recoverable waste was returned to the economy, and it estimates the economic value of these activities at 365 billion Turkish lira. The same official data also cite savings in energy, water and petroleum products, as well as reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions associated with reuse and recycling. These are figures published by the competent ministry as part of the monitoring of the national programme.
The government wants to further increase the waste recovery rate. The Ministry has set a target of 60 percent for 2035 and 70 percent for 2053. The expansion of the concept into sport can therefore be viewed as part of an attempt to achieve national targets not only through municipal systems and industry, but also through institutions that have major social influence. Sports facilities can serve as visible places for testing new habits because organisers, suppliers, athletes and audiences meet there. If pilot projects show that consumption and waste volumes can be reduced without disrupting the organisation of competitions, such solutions can be transferred more easily to other stadiums, arenas, camps and sports centres. For this very reason, the protocol provides for the exchange of data, professional materials, academic research and experience between TMOK and the Foundation.
Zero waste also gains an international climate dimension
In recent years, Turkey has also tried to bring the zero-waste concept to the international level. On 14 December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly designated 30 March as the International Day of Zero Waste, which has been observed since 2023. The United Nations highlighted the role of Turkey and Emine Erdoğan in promoting the issue, while Emine Erdoğan chairs the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board of Eminent Persons on Zero Waste. In UN documents, the initiative is linked to sustainable production and consumption, waste prevention, product reuse and the development of a circular economy. The inclusion of sport in Turkey's programme therefore also has a foreign-policy dimension because it is taking place in the year when Turkey assumes a leading role in the most important annual process of global climate negotiations.
COP31, the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, will be held in Antalya from 9 to 20 November 2026, the UNFCCC has confirmed. Turkey's Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Murat Kurum has been appointed President-designate of the conference, while Turkey and Australia are cooperating under a special presidency model in which Australia leads the negotiating part of the process. In June 2026, Turkey's COP31 Presidency presented a global climate action agenda whose objectives include reducing growth in the global amount of waste by 2035 and increasing the share of circular material use. The UNFCCC announced at the time that the Presidency wants to make zero waste, methane reduction and the circular economy more visible components of climate implementation. The partnership between the Olympic committee and the Foundation therefore aligns both in timing and substance with the priorities Ankara wants to emphasise ahead of the conference in Antalya.
The two-year agreement should produce models that can be expanded
A coordination mechanism between TMOK and the Zero Waste Foundation is envisaged for implementation of the project. The partners are expected to jointly plan, implement and evaluate activities and, when necessary, exchange data, documentation, professional sources and educational materials. Joint projects at national and international sporting events are planned in order to develop and spread examples of good practice. In the first phase, particular attention will be paid to the Olympic House and other sports facilities associated with TMOK, where concrete measures for waste sorting, recycling and more efficient use of resources should be tested. The idea is for the pilot locations to serve as a model before broader application in the sports system.
At the same time, the agreement does not mean that every sporting event in Turkey will automatically switch to a unified zero-waste standard. The publicly presented document speaks about cooperation, model development, education and the dissemination of practices, but it does not publish binding quotas for all sports federations or deadlines for individual waste reductions. It is precisely the concrete criteria, method of measurement and public publication of results that will be important for assessing the project's success after the first pilot implementations. If comparable indicators are introduced, such as the amount of waste per visitor, the share of separately collected materials, the share of reused equipment or the reduction of single-use packaging, it will be possible to assess the initiative's impact more clearly. For now, the emphasis is on building the system and changing behaviour, rather than on numerical obligations announced in advance.
Sport as a space for changing everyday habits
The broadest goal of the signatories is to turn sport into a visible channel for a culture of sustainability. This means environmental measures should not be limited to the technical staff of facilities, but should be understood and applied by athletes, coaches, organisers and audiences. If such an approach becomes rooted in the regular work of clubs and federations, the impact may be greater than the amount of recycled material itself because habits are transferred to everyday life outside sports venues. On the other hand, the sustainability of major events does not depend only on waste: transport, energy, construction, procurement, water consumption and the overall carbon footprint are also important. Therefore, the project's long-term ambition will be assessed according to whether the zero-waste concept is connected with other elements of environmentally responsible sports organisation.
The two-year protocol gives TMOK and the Foundation a period in which they can test methods, educate participants and standardise procedures before a possible expansion to a larger number of sports organisations. At a time when Turkey is preparing COP31 and at the same time seeking to increase the national waste recovery rate, sport is becoming an additional platform for demonstrating a policy that since 2017 has grown from a domestic project into an issue with international political significance. Whether the new model remains primarily educational or produces measurable reductions in waste and resource consumption will be shown by the results of the pilot projects and the way the two institutions publicly evaluate them. According to the currently published plan, the first step will be the introduction of more sustainable practices at the Olympic House and other sports facilities, after which proven solutions should be spread through competitions, camps and educational programmes. In this way, sport in Turkey gains a new role: alongside its competitive and social function, it should also become a practical testing ground for a culture of more efficient resource use and waste reduction.
Sources:
- Sıfır Atık Vakfı – official announcement of 13 August 2026 on the protocol with Türkiye Milli Olimpiyat Komitesi, areas of cooperation, education, pilot projects and the two-year duration of the agreement (link)
- Türkiye Milli Olimpiyat Komitesi – official TMOK page with an announcement on expanding the zero-waste approach to the sports and Olympic system (link)
- Turkish Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change – official data on the waste recovery rate, quantity of recycled material and targets for 2035 and 2053 (link)
- UNFCCC – official confirmation of the appointment of Murat Kurum as COP31 President-designate and the dates of the conference in Antalya from 9 to 20 November 2026 (link)
- UNFCCC – publication of the COP31 Presidency's global climate action agenda, including targets related to waste and the circular economy (link)
- United Nations – information on the designation of 30 March as the International Day of Zero Waste and the international framework of the initiative (link)
- UN-Habitat – official information on the Advisory Board of Eminent Persons on Zero Waste and Emine Erdoğan's role as chair of the board (link)
- United Nations Environment Programme – context on waste at major sporting events and the application of circular approaches in sport (link)
- International Olympic Committee – Sustainability Essentials guidelines on sustainability management, responsible procurement, plastics and the circular economy in sport (link)