Page 240 - 7. State Of Environment Report Of Türkiye

E. MANAGEMENT OF

CHEMICALS

In 2010, in order to fulfil the obligations of the “Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs)” to which Türkiye became a party, preparation and updating of the National
Implementation Plan, creation of persistent organic pollutant inventories, taking measures to
reduce their stocks and emissions and carrying out monitoring activities, reporting to the Con-
vention secretariat at regular intervals are ongoing. The National Implementation Plan for Per-
sistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) has been updated in line with the changes in the Stockholm
Convention and submitted to the Convention Secretariat in 2022.

The Elimination of POPs Residues and Reduction of POPs Emissions Project was completed in
2021 in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United
Nations Development and Industrial Organisation (UNIDO) with the large-scale project support
from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in order to eliminate POPs residues and reduce POPs
emissions in Türkiye. With the said project, 3,000 tonnes of Lindane stock and 300 tonnes of
PCB-containing materials and equipment in Türkiye were eliminated, 41.6 tonnes of PCB oil was
disposed of, as well as 42.6 tonnes of PCB oil decontamination activities and analysis of 6,100
transformers likely to contain PCBs were carried out.

The “By-law on Persistent Organic Pollutants” published in the Official Gazette dated 14 No-
vember 2018 and numbered 30595 for the purpose of effective implementation of the Sto-
ckholm Convention at national level and harmonisation and implementation of the EU By-law
on Persistent Organic Pollutants by Türkiye was amended in 2021 and the number of harmful
chemicals banned under the By-law increased to 16 and the number of restricted substances
increased to 21.

In 2013, the “Project on Improving Environmental Performance in Compressed and Expanded
Polystyrene Industries in Türkiye” is being carried out by the Ministry of Environment, Urbani-
zation and Climate Change and UNIDO with the support provided by the GEF to end the use of
Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), one of the POPs added to the Stockholm Convention, in Tür-
kiye. It is aimed to ensure environmentally compatible management of existing HBCD stocks in
Türkiye, to evaluate alternative chemicals that can be used instead of HBCD, to use alternatives
at the production stage and to build capacity for relevant stakeholders on the efficiency of pro-

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