Iremcon News

IREMCON HELD SUCCESSFULLY

The Second International Environmental Conference (IREMCON)  was held successfully on March 21-22, 2018 in Istanbul. The conference which hosted many participants from Turkey, Hungary , Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Germany, Kosovo, Romania, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, started with opening remarks of Mustafa Akalp, the Chairman of Steering Committee for IREMCON-2, Ezgi Bozoğlu, the Aegean Regional Manager of Akademi Çevre A.Ş., Fatmir Matoshi, Deputy Minister of   Environment and Spatial Planning of Kosovo, Prof. Zoran Sapurici, Macedonian Minister of Climate Investments Regulation and Development, Muhammet Balta, Chairman of the Parliamentary  Environment Committee of Turkish Grand National Assembly and Deputy of Trabzon.

 

Prof. Zoran Sapurici, Macedonian Minister of Climate Investments Regulation and Development, said  "IREMCON Environmental Conference emphasizes the importance of international cooperation in the field of waste and recycling. I hope and believe that the conference will be successful. "

 

Muhammet Balta, Chairman of the Parliamentary   Environment Committee of Turkish Grand National Assembly and Deputy of Trabzon, highlighted the potential Turkey has in the field of waste management  and recycling, and noted that the steps taken for strengthening the cooperation with Balkan countries must be accelerated further. He thanked everyone who contributed to the organization of IREMCON.

 

Fatmir Matoshi, Deputy Minister of   Environment and Spatial Planning of Kosovo, highlighted the importance of the conference, and added: “I believe we will achieve very valuable results during these two days. There are many experts here and I’m very happy to be here.”        

 

In his opening remarks, Mustafa Akalp, the Chairman of Steering Committee for IREMCON-2, said the following: “I would like to thank all stakeholders who have contributed to the organization of this conference, particularly including Recycling Industry, the highly-quality magazine of the industry which has managed to survive all the problems and stress since 2007, GRUP E Print Media and its manager Türkay Özgür who have undertaken the organization of IREMCON, TÜRKTAY meetings, GREEN CAMERA Inter-University Short Film Contest and many other events, and which them further success.

Distinguished guests, we are all aware of the global environmental problems. We have a special position in this global setting. We share a common geography and we share similar environmental problems. We share a common culture  and common consumption patterns. So are the solutions of the problems we face. Instead of using the technologies of distant overseas countries in solving our problems, we must  develop a technology and industry tailored specifically for this geography and our common consumption patterns. We must search for the solutions in the countries of this geography and boost our cooperation for this purpose. This seems to be the most  appropriate way to follow and this is what this conference is intended to achieve. This is the only way we can achieve more successful and more efficient waste management. The key to successfully protecting the environment is to successfully maintain waste management and economy. I would like to underscore another similarity among our countries: our ministries in charge of this matter  also involve the other disciplines besides environment, such as environment and tourism, environment and urbanization, environment and spatial planning, etc.  As an urgent and critical issue, I would like to underline the need to reorganize our relevant ministries in such a manner that they focus on environment and waste management only.  And specifically for Turkey, we also would like to have the Higher Environmental Council in place as soon as possible, as required by the Environment Law."

 

The conference held in Istanbul on March 21-22, 2018, under the main sponsorship of AKADEMİ ÇEVRE, attended by many Ministry staff members in addition to high-level officials from various other agencies and organizations.

 

Dr. Caner Zanbak contributed to the conference as the Chairman of Technical  Committee, while many other leading and successful organizations in their respective fields also provided valuable support. IREMCON is the first international conference organized in Turkey in the field of waste management and recycling.

 

The conference was also supported by the Middle East and West Asia region  of United Cities and Local Governments organization (UCLG – MEWA), with TÜMAKÜDER contributing as Conference Partner, BENLİ RECYCLING, İZAYDAŞ and DİSAN HİDROLİK as Golden Sponsors; TAYÇED, MMI EURASIA FUARCILIK and DÖNMEZ VARİL as Silver Sponsors; LASDER and ITC as Bronze Sponsors.  The conference involved two special sessions. Before the  conference, the speakers attended a technical visit to the fully-automated domestic waste classification plant of İZAYDAŞ and Pendik Municipality. Following the visit, the guests joined a night boat excursion in the Bosporus.