1. Dr. H. Ömer KÖSE Principle Auditor
ASOSAI WGEA The 5th Seminar on Environmental Auditing
Strategic Approach for Auditing Solid Waste Management in Turkey and TCA’s Experience
Dr. H. Ömer KÖSE
Principle Auditor
15-17 April 2014 
Ha Noi, Vietnam

2. TCA and Environmental Auditing
Various national audits have been conducted on environmental issues since 1996 (on natural disasters, forests, coastal areas, infrastructure, waste management, air pollution, water management, etc.)
Turkish Court of Accounts (TCA) participated several international coordinated/parallel audits on environmental issues, such as:
“Preventing and Dealing with Pollution From Ships” (with European SAIs in 2001).
“Saving the Black Sea Against Pollution” (2011).
“Audit on Disaster Preparedness” (2013).

3. TCA and Environmental Audit Training
First international Environmental Audit Course held in Antalya (Turkey) in November 2003 by IDI for ASOSAI members.
TCA organised an international training event on Environmental Auditing for ECOSAI members in April 2010 in Antalya (through parallel sessions in English and Russian Language)
ASOSAI Workshop on Environment Audit held in Istanbul (Turkey) in September 2010 with the administrative support of the TCA.

4. Auditing Solid Waste Management
Solid waste management issue has been covered by several environmental audits conducted by TCA (i.e. Saving the Black Sea Against Pollution)
Solid waste management has also been evaluated specifically by a seperate audit study, the topic of which was:
“Waste Management in Turkey: Evaluation of National Strategy and Implementation Results”

5. Reasons for Choosing the Topic
Being the most extensive environmental issue and a subject of global concern
Increasing level of its threats on public health as well as environment and economy in general
Insufficiencies about waste policies and common weaknesses in practice
The highest need for investment among all environmental issues
Being a subject of underground (unofficial) economy and consequently of fraud and corruption
High interest of the parliament and the media
Process for harmonisation of legal framework with EU regulations
Strong need for defining the most effective policies and instruments to deal with this threat (for both government and the parliament)

6. Facts and Figures about Waste in Turkey
Approximately 52 million tons waste per year
More than half of waste is recyclable, but the rate of recycling is too low
Most of landfills are not appropriate and environmentaly safe
Due to rapid urbanisation, landfill areas are getting to be a part of urban life and lead unexpected threats
Parallel with mass of waste, need for new and sanitary landfills is increasing
Old landfills need to be rehabilitated
Due to lack of capacity for waste from construction, masses of waste are missing

7. Basis for Developing the System (Sources for Criteria)
EU Regulations
Environmental Law and other legislations
National development plans and national environmental strategies
Best practices and experiences/strategies of other countries
Scientific researches and reports from national and international institutions, etc…

8. Audit Objectives
To asses effectiveness and efficiency of waste management strategy and its instruments.
To asses the implementation by responsible institutions to protect the environment from waste.
To evaluate institutional capacity in place to manage waste issues effectively.

9. Audit Scope
To evaluate waste management policies and their success in implementation, mainly Ministry of Environment and Forestry and Ankara Metropolitan Municipality were audited (since Ankara is the Capital and the second biggest city of Turkey and has serious problems regarding waste management).

10. Audit Methodology
Reviewing national policy documents such as legislation, national development plans, EU Adaptation Programme, Outputs of the EU Twinning Project
Reviewing EU Regulations and international organisations’ documents
Examination files of the Ministry and the Municipality for 2 to 5 years
Observation on three different landfills, two private hospitals, medical waste treatment area of Ankara
Interviews with key and top person in the Ministry and in the Municipality
Negotiations with academics and NGOs
Benchmarking with other countries
A wide range of searches and reviews on web, literature,, other SAIs’ reports…
Reference partner (a Professor from the Middle East Technical University)
Expert from SAI of UK for Twinning Project

11. Main Findings
A wide range of arrangements in line with EU regulations that ensure a strong base for a sound waste management, but have not been reflected mostly in implementation
Repetitions and gaps in sharing roles and responsibilities among different agencies that affect the effectiveness of application process
Lack of high quality data to formulate and implement waste policies
Lack of a specific national strategic plan on waste management

12. Main Findings (cont.)
Weak technical and institutional capacity of municipalities, which are the main actors in the area
Monitoring and control activities by the Ministry are very limited
Financing system does not take into consider the polluter–pays principle sufficiently.
Economical tools are weak to deter pollution
Financial sources are inadequate for investments

13. Main Findings (cont.)
Various projects carried out with foreign partners aimed to develop waste management system are not efficient. Because;
– there are duplications and repetitions in studies,
– outputs are mostly composed of simple situation analysis, feasibility studies and some general recommendations,
– many of them were not finalised or implemented.
So, many efforts, long time period and other resources had been wasted.

14. An unsanitary landfil on the edge of the Black Sea

15. Insufficient capacity for treatment and disposal of hazardous waste leads illegal dumping to the nature…

16. Main Recommendations
A comprehensive national strategic plan on waste management should be improved and put into practice to lead the implementation.
Tools to support local authorities by central government should be improved
The Ministry (MoEF) should promote its facilities to guide, control and enforce the local authorities and other actors from both public and private sector.

17. Main Recommendations (cont.)
To increase the number and capacity of sanitary landfills, a national plan should be prepared and put into practice under a concrete programme.
Waste hierarchy based recommendations (minimasing waste, encouraging relevant technologies, effective implementation of fines etc.)

18. Main Recommendations (cont.)
To improve recycling, waste sector should be encouraged and recycling facilities should be expanded to all provinces.
Polluter-pays principle should put into practise effectively and economical tools to finance the investments should be developed.

19. A disaster by spilled hazardous waste: Can polluter pays?

20. Progress in the Area
National waste management strategy has been adopted
Regulations on waste management have been revised
Private companies have been encouraged to develop recycling
A plan has been adopted to recover old landfills and to construct new landfills

21. Progress in the Area (cont.)
Investments of Municipalities are being supported by the Ministry (% 50 of cost for relevant projects)
Tools for segregation of waste at source have been developed and Municipalities are enforced by the Ministry for implementation.
Awareness of public and the institutions is too much higher than before.

22. Thank you for your attention