Identification and Remediation of Contaminated Sites with Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Project, which aims to enhance Türkiye’s capacity on implementation of EU POPs Regulation through increasing capacity of national stakeholders, identification of contaminated sites and demonstration technologies for POPs contaminated sites, was completed on 24.07.2024.

In the closing program; Our Department Head Assoc. Prof. Dr. İsmail Raci Bayer also emphasized the activities carried out throughout the project and the importance of the project in his closing speech.

The 2 million Euro project we carried out with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) was financed by the European Union and the Republic of Türkiye.

POPs are organic chemicals that survive by long-distance transport in the atmosphere, accumulate in living organisms, are transported across borders via air, water or migratory species, and have a persistent nature in the environment. They can be found in pesticides, as well as being released as unwanted by-products as a result of industrial processes. Our project supported Turkey in dealing with the issue of POPs-contaminated sites in line with the EU’s 2019 “POPs Regulation and Soil Pollution Strategy”. 

A total of 17 trainings, 10 workshops and 4 consultation meetings were organized in 81 provinces with the participation of 698 people. UNDP also developed an online general health risk assessment software that allows the personnel of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, both in the central and provincial organizations, to evaluate the field sampling results provided by accredited companies.

In addition, study visits and field visits were organized to the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Italy within the scope of the project, and technical research was conducted there.  

In addition, UNDP experts and the General Directorate of Environmental Management of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change updated technical support documents such as the “Regulation on Control of Soil Pollution and Point Source Contaminated Sites” and its annexes, as well as technical guides on risk assessment and remediation technologies.

All revisions to the regulation were integrated into the Contaminated Sites Information System, allowing the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change to collect data in a standardized manner and have a sustainable data pool for the future.

The project also conducted various studies aimed at improving overall chemical management and developing both remediation and comprehensive integrated chemical management capacity to prevent future site pollution. These achievements were in line with the project’s overall goal of maximizing multiplier effects and ensuring sustainability.