Waste-free life: World can overcome climate crisis - Türkiye's first lady

The world can heal from the disease of climate crisis through eco-friendly and waste-free life, Türkiye's First Lady Emine Erdogan has said.

"A large part of the waste we abandon to nature consists of products that can be re-used and which have not yet completed their life cycle," Erdogan said in a video message to the second session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly on Tuesday.

"What kind of footprint we leave on the planet is entirely up to us!"

Erdogan said the "outstanding success" of Türkiye's zero-waste movement in a short period of time has shown to the world how important individual human effort is for environmental problems.

"By making small changes in the daily lives of people, we can heal the world against the disease of climate change through an eco-friendly, waste-free life."

Abandoning throw-away culture

In 2017, under the auspices of the Turkish first lady, Türkiye launched the zero-waste project to highlight the importance of eliminating waste in fighting the climate crisis.

The project has drawn international praise, with UN chief Antonio Guterres expressing his gratitude to Emine Erdogan during a conference in New York last September.

Last December, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on the zero waste initiative presented by Türkiye, declaring March 30 as the International Day of Zero Waste.

"Undoubtedly, great strides have been made to save nature from waste that it cannot dispose of by itself. However, we still have a long way to go in an age when consumption has become the main goal."

"I believe the most profound change will occur when we abandon the throw-away culture and adopt a lifestyle that generates almost no waste," the Turkish first lady said.

She added that the spread of the global zero-waste movement from country to country and people to people shows that those days are not so far away anymore.