Plastic waste return from mobile application to wallet in Turkey: DOA

Considered as an important step in waste management and recycling Deposit Field Management Systemis being implemented in the pilot province of Sakarya. The system, which is planned to be implemented throughout Turkey by the end of the year, aims to accelerate the recycling of beverage packaging and provide economic benefits to citizens.

Details of the system and information on how it will work were also shared.

How will the system work?

Packaging With Deposit (DOA) DSYS, which will work integrated with the application, will process the plastic, glass and aluminum beverage packages with the DOA logo on them by returning them to the deposit return machines. Citizens will receive a certain incentive fee for each returned packaging. This fee will be transferred to digital wallet accounts linked to the DOA application to be downloaded to mobile phones. Transactions made by scanning the QR code can be used as cash or digital balance.

Beverage packaging constitutes 20-25 percent of the approximately 30-35 million tons of solid waste generated in Turkey every year. The new system is expected to be effective in bringing this large amount of waste into the economy and reducing environmental pollution. DSYS will enable the recycling of approximately 25 billion pieces of packaging every year, allowing an estimated saving of 520 million euros per year.

With the cooperation protocol signed between the Turkish Environment Agency, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and the Confederation of Tradesmen and Craftsmen of Turkey (TESK), it was decided to establish a company to institutionalize the system. This structure will manage field operations such as collection, transportation, verification and recovery of packages.

It is planned that DSYS will serve all citizens across the country by the end of 2025. The data obtained from Sakarya, where the pilot application started, will be used for the adaptation of the system to other provinces. It is aimed to complete the necessary infrastructure in every province and district by the end of the year.

DOA application and return process

For the system to work, citizens must install the DOA application on their mobile phones. The application will work synchronously with deposit return machines. Citizens will be able to save a certain amount of money in their digital wallets in exchange for packages with the DOA logo that they scan in the machines. By facilitating recycling processes with deposit return machines and spreading this system throughout the country, an important step will be taken in terms of environmental sustainability. The system is expected to create positive effects in the long term, with both its individual incentive mechanisms and wide-ranging environmental benefits.