The Government of Turkey has implemented its new quota regulations on imports of recycled materials with immediate effect.
As revealed by REB Market Intelligence last week, Turkey’s Environment Minister Murat Kurum had announced that the country intended to cut imports to half of what its recycling sector needs.
Now the details of the new regulations have been published by Turkey’s General Directorate of Environmental Impact Assessment, Permit and Inspection, which is an agency of the Environment and Urban Planning Ministry.
Turkish importers of recyclable materials will now need to apply for a new import license under the new quota regulations that are immediately implemented after the previous rules were repealed.
To get this new import license, importers must provide documentation including a report on their existing recycling capacity, current environmental permit and license certificate, plus a table that contains import figures based on their Customs Tariff Statistics Position (known as GTIP data in Turkey).
From this, the Ministry will calculate the import quota for the facilities that import material with the aim of reducing imports to 50% of what the recycling sector requires with the rest provided from domestic sources.
Importers will also need to prove that they are supplied by at least three different Turkish domestic suppliers.
After the first year, the calculation made by the Ministry on quota will also take into account domestic waste collection.
For the remainder of 2020, the import of waste at a maximum of 50% of the facility consumption capacity specified in the capacity reports of the companies will be allowed.
If an importer exceeds its quota, then its import registration certificate is cancelled for the remainder of the determined year and the end of the calendar year. When they are able to reapply for a new license, then the quota for that period will be reduced by a further 10%.
As well as the new quota regulations, any “inappropriate waste” which has not been defined in the regulations will be returned to the country of origin with shipping fees to be paid by the importer.
Also, it will no longer be permitted to send material to another facility unless it is recycled in the facility of the importer and transfer of material is not permitted.
Those that have already sent material to Turkey prior to the date of the new regulations (3 September 2020) will not be subject to the new rules as long as the transportation documents show they were shipped prior to this date.
