in Istanbul. According to the Dictionary of Environmental
Terms published by the Turkish Ministry of Environment
and Forestry, waste is defined as ‘all sorts of undesirable
liquid, solid, gaseous or radioactive materials that are released
into the environment in an amount sufficient to cause alteration
in the environment’ (Turkish Ministry of Environment and
Forestry, 2010b). According to this definition, each person in
Turkey produces an average of 1.38 kg of waste per day. The
types of solid wastes and recycling rates for the year 2009 in
Turkey are shown in Figure 1.