The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said it launched a programme to finance investments aimed at minimising waste and increasing resource efficiency in the industry, agribusiness and municipal sectors. The Near-Zero Waste initiative is set to drive a profound transformation of waste management in a move to help Turkey advance towards a more competitive, resource-efficient circular economy, the bank said on its website.
It will finance waste recycling infrastructure, biomass and biogas facilities, technologies which reduce packaging waste, and use of alternative fuels in energy intensive industries. The programme is expected to fund up to 12 investments for up to USD 125 million (EUR 133.33) in total. Funds will be complemented by EUR 18.13 million from the Clean Technology Fund, a funding window of the Climate Investment Funds, providing financing to promote low carbon technologies and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The European Union is also supporting the programme with a €2 million grant through its Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) to provide technical advice to project developers to unlock the potential for waste minimisation, product life-cycle assessment and energy generation from waste.
The programme was inspired by a highly successful glass-recycling project developed by the EBRD with Şişecam, a Turkish glass producer and a long-standing client of the bank, the report said. Initially, with grant financing from the Government of Spain, the company placed thousands of bottle banks across Turkey and launched an awareness-raising campaign to encourage households to collect glass waste. As the initiative proved successful, the EBRD extended a EUR 30 million loan to help Şişecam step up glass-collection capacity and finance the company’s glass-recycling and energy efficiency investments.
