Türkiye aims to establish 50,000 return points for its deposit return system

Türkiye Environment Agency President Nurullah Öztürk announced that they aim to establish 50,000 return points across Türkiye following the opening of a deposit-packaging counting and verification center in Bursa. The system is planned to include approximately 150 counting and verification centers, 600 lines and 10,000 deposit return machines.

Scraper SystemAugust 22, 2026, 12:22 PM

Türkiye aims to establish 50,000 return points for its deposit return system

Türkiye Environment Agency President Nurullah Öztürk outlined plans to collect deposit-packaging waste and return it to the recycling stream at the opening of the BURKASAN Deposit-Packaging Counting and Verification Line Center in Bursa.

Öztürk said Türkiye has approximately 25 billion PET, glass and aluminum packages, including imports, and that the goal is to collect all of them. He said Türkiye's geographical structure, population distribution and consumption habits were taken into account when designing the system.

Infrastructure work began in 2022

Öztürk said infrastructure work for the deposit return system began in 2022, and preparations in software, machinery production and technology continued through 2025. He said the pilot phase began in February 2025 and that the country moved into the national integration phase as of July 1, 2026, after the pilot work continued through July 2026.

Öztürk said the system would be introduced gradually and that the aim was to expand it within two years. As part of the plan, approximately 150 counting and verification centers and a total of 600 counting and verification lines are to be established across Türkiye.

50,000 return points planned

The national system aims to establish at least 50,000 return points. Öztürk said this figure did not mean 50,000 deposit return machines, explaining that the plan included 10,000 deposit return machines as well as manual handheld terminals to be used in the field.

Öztürk said the deposit return system was important not only for collecting packaging but also for establishing a culture of recycling in society. The system is scheduled to enter its expansion phase as of July 1, 2028.

Domestic production to receive priority

Öztürk said priority had been given to supporting domestic industrialists and technology producers during the system's establishment. He said the machinery and technologies could be sourced from abroad, but that they preferred to develop domestic production. Öztürk also said the deposit-packaging system had attracted international interest and that similar systems were not even in place in some developed countries.

Bursa facility cost more than 200 million liras

Vedat Kılıç, chairman of the board of Burkasan, said the facility, built with an investment exceeding 200 million liras, would serve factories in Bursa and the surrounding area. Kılıç said five separate counting and verification lines could operate simultaneously at the facility, that the lines were connected by conveyor systems and that the packaging was collected at shared points according to type.

Kılıç said they regarded the investment as the first compact facility established as part of their activities under the deposit management system. He said another similar facility was planned for western Bursa and that they aimed to return at least 80% of the more than 1 billion deposit packages generated annually in the city to the economy within two years.

Ali Kantur, chairman of the Waste and Recycling Sector Council of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye, and İbrahim Burkay, chairman of the board of the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also spoke at the ceremony. The event concluded with the ribbon-cutting ceremony and a tour of the facility.

Türkiye aims to establish 50,000 return points for its deposit return system