CITY: Izmir
COUNTRY: Turkey
POPULATION: 4,394,694
JOINED: July 2019
DECLARATION OF INTENT: download
CITY ACTION PLAN: download
MAYOR: Tunç Soyer
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: view
CONNECT:  Facebook | Instagram

OVERVIEW

Izmir is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara, and the second largest metropolitan area on the Aegean Sea after Athens, Greece. The City has a population of 2,947,000, while Izmir Province has a population of 4.394.694. Due to its strategic location along the western Anatolian coast, the city has been one of the principal mercantile cities of the Mediterranean Sea for much of its history. Known as a city of tolerance and door to many cultures, beliefs and lifestyles that have been living together in peace for thousands of years, Izmir is highly affected by plastic pollution with recent research (WWF, 2019) finding the coastal area affected by record-levels of plastic contamination: each km of its coast receives 7.2 kg of plastic debris every day, more than the average in the Mediterranean (5kg/km/day).

Izmir is part of the WWF global initiative,  Plastic Smart Cities since 2019. The Municipality of Çeşme became a pilot area within the Plastic Smart Cities protocol signed by WWF-Turkey and Izmir Metropolitan Municipality 2020.

WWF-Turkey’s 3-year project aims that the city of Izmir and the coastal municipality of Çeşme to become role models in the fight against plastic pollution. Both are heavily affected by plastic pollution which will make changes all the more visible. Çeşme as one of Turkey’s pioneers in sustainable tourism is uniquely situated to lead the work against plastic pollution and become a role model for other touristic venues. The city already pledged to decrease its plastic pollution 30% until the end of 2022.

Izmir on the other hand with its sizable population will pave the way for other mega cities in Turkey in their struggle with plastic pollution. Taking into account the limited financial resources focus will be on scalable innovative solutions formed in collaboration with the private sector.

ACTIVITIES

Activities in Izmir fall within the "Venice and Izmir together against plastic pollution" project  implemented thanks to the support of the Blue Planet Virginia Böger Foundation. The main objectives of the project are:

1. Adopt a Plan of Action to reduce the use of single-use plastic and improve waste management focusing especially at plastic pollution with the goal of “No Plastic in Nature”. Izmir will report annually on progress.

2. Develop an innovation project with solutions to achieve a measurable reduction of plastic pollution.

3. Engage with key tourism and commercial businesses to avoid and replace single-use plastic (hotel, bars, restaurants).

4. Engage in communications activities to increase citizens’ engagement to reduce plastic use and adopt effective waste disposal. Joint communications initiatives with the City of Venice will be developed.

While Blue Panda was in Çeşme, in August 2021, the Municipality published the Plastic Smart Cities Action Plan's outline. Çeşme Municipality is still working on the details and application methods. The highlights of the Action Plan prepared by Çeşme are as follows:

• Banning single-use plastics at the Municipality of Çeşme's buildings and restaurants & cafes owned by Çeşme Municipality (6 restaurants/cafes),
• Banning single-use plastics in organizations and public events sponsored by Çeşme Municipality,
• Promoting gradual transition to use paper bags instead of plastic bags used in local marketplaces,
• Increasing the numbers of mobile waste collection centers to enhance waste segregation at source,
• Supporting cooperation with the local business towards Plastic Smart Çeşme,
• Organizing waste collection activities with the local citizens to create public awareness ,
• Preparing a comprehensive Communication Plan. All the work included in the Action Plan will be transparently shared with the public.

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality started to create a baseline study for Plastic Smart Cities and began to work on the Action Plan. They prepared a draft Internal Action Plan for the Municipality's buildings and institutions.

REPORTING

The Baseline Study for Çeşme, shows that 27,60% of the total waste consists in recyclable waste. Among recyclables plastic waste makes 23% of this ratio. Significantly, while generated plastic waste amounts to 7,36% of the total waste in Izmir, in Çeşme, the percentage increases to 11,62%. In addition to that, plastic leakage is estimated 67.69 kg per day and 24.71 tons per year in Çeşme.

With those key findings, Çeşme is committed to providing Plastic Smart Cities with annual updates on activities and progress toward targets described in the City Action Plan to reduce plastic waste and increase reuse. 

Also, a baseline study was planned in collaboration with GIZ (using the same methodology). GIZ started the baseline at the end of 2021, for Izmır Metropolitan Municipality.

PLASTIC SMART CITIES IN THE REGION