Vegetable and Fruit Wastes Turning into Organic Fertilizer

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Karşıyaka Thanks to the 'Compost Production Process' he established in Yalı Mahallesi, he transforms the marketplace wastes into organic fertilizer. Metropolitan Municipality will obtain 65 tons of solid and 30 tons of liquid organic fertilizer from 10 tons of organic waste annually from the district market where it is piloting. The obtained fertilizers will be used in parks and gardens and will be distributed to farmers engaged in agricultural production.

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, which has signed exemplary works for sustainable agriculture and ecosystem, has started a different work this time for the recycling of organic wastes from marketplaces to nature. Under the coordination of İZDOĞA A.Ş, one of the companies of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Karşıyaka The “Low Emission Zone - Garbage Free Life District” project, carried out with the partnership of the Municipality and the Take Care of Your Waste Foundation, started in Yalı District, which was selected as a pilot area.

In project scope Karşıyaka Fruit and vegetable wastes are collected after the neighborhood market, which is held every Tuesday and Saturday in Yalı Mahallesi. The waste collected from the marketplace is thrown into the compost production container. After the 1000-liter container is filled with other inputs, organic waste is recovered as organic fertilizer within a month. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality aims to both transform organic wastes and make the soil more productive thanks to the compost process. The fertilizer released after composting not only improves the structure and properties of the soil, but also increases its productivity. Organic fertilizers not only increase the water holding capacity of the soil, but also prevent salinization in dry seasons.

30 tons of solid and 10 tons of liquid organic fertilizer per year from a marketplace

Karşıyaka Saadet Çağlın, Deputy Mayor of the Municipality, underlined that an awareness campaign is being carried out on ecological urban practices, projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the protection of natural resources in Yalı Mahallesi, and said, “Organic wastes turn into compost fertilizer in the marketplace here. Marketplaces produce organic waste. At the end of the day, the products that were defined as waste remained here. In the past, it was sent to the Harmandalı Landfill Facility. With this project, while we reduce our wastes going to landfill, we collect organic wastes and then ferment them with enzyme additives. We recycle 65 tons of organic waste annually as 30 tons of solid and 10 tons of liquid organic fertilizer. The product we obtain is actually vegetable wastes such as red tomatoes, yellow corn leaves, peppers and lettuce that look like soil. In about a month, there is a natural fermentation process and it turns into fertilizer at the end of the period. We will use the organic fertilizer we produce both in parks and gardens and in urban agriculture applications. The organic content of our soils is very low, we will support this with our organic fertilizers, and we will reduce the use of chemical fertilizers.