UN event marks Int’l Day of Zero Waste 

ANKARA

The United Nations has hosted an event to mark the second International Day of Zero Waste, highlighting a project initiated in Türkiye aimed at reducing waste burden, with Turkish first lady Emine Erdoğan calling for tangible steps towards sustainability.

March 30 was declared as International Day of Zero Waste by a United Nations General Assembly resolution in 2022.

In a video message sent to the event in New York, Erdoğan pointed out that every day, an amount of plastic equivalent to 2,000 garbage trucks is dumped into the oceans, rivers and lakes.

“Does it sit well with our conscience that a plastic island the size of a continent floating in the ocean is the work of this century’s humanity? If humanity were truly making progress, shouldn’t this progress make the world a more civilized and humane place?” she asked.

Drawing from bitter experiences of climate change and environmental pollution, she stressed the need to both combat these challenges and take tangible steps towards sustainability in the context of the responsibility to future generations.

Erdoğan also expressed satisfaction that the Zero Waste project initiated in 2017 has evolved into a global movement by a U.N. General Assembly resolution.

In a video message, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also conveyed his gratitude to Türkiye for its vision and leadership.