89,800 households in Antalya get their electricity from garbage

Antalya Metropolitan Municipality, in addition to disposing of garbage coming from districts at Kızıllı Integrated Waste Assessment Recycling and Disposal Facility, produces energy from waste heat. The capacity of the facility varies as 2,200 tons per day in winter and 3,000 tons in summer.

According to the statement made by the Metropolitan Municipality, the waste collected from the districts of Aksu, Döşemealtı, Kepez, Konyaaltı, Muratpaşa, Elmalı, Korkuteli, Kumluca, Finike, Demre, Serik, Kemer and Kaş is transported from the transfer stations to the Kızıllı Integrated Waste Assessment, Recycling and Disposal Facility with 48 vehicles.

The domestic solid waste of Alanya, Gazipaşa, Gündoğmuş, Akseki and İbradı districts is disposed of in the Alanya Integrated Solid Waste Evaluation Disposal and Energy Production Facility, while the domestic solid waste of Manavgat district is disposed of in the Manavgat Solid Waste Regular Storage and Energy Production Facility.

Tahir Batı, an Environmental Engineer working at the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality, stated that wastes are subjected to various processes before disposal at the Kızıllı Integrated Waste Evaluation Facility. Batı said that wastes collected from districts are first taken to the acceptance unit, then recyclable materials are separated, and organic wastes are decomposed in biomethanization tanks to produce methane gas, which is used to generate electricity at the power plant.

Tahir Batı, who stated that the facility also has a waste heat recovery unit, which is the first and only one in Turkey, noted that 2.8 megawatt hours of electricity were produced by recovering waste heat at 460 degrees in the steam turbine plant. Tahir Batı stated that the total energy production capacity of the facility is 28.27 megawatt hours.

Environmental Engineer Serpil Beşkaza stated that the monthly energy produced at the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Kızıllı Integrated Waste Assessment, Recycling and Disposal Facility is enough to meet the electricity needs of 89,800 households.

Beşkaza said, "In this way, 340 thousand tons of carbon emissions are reduced. The facility is the first solid waste facility in Turkey to produce energy from waste heat and also contributes to the fight against global warming by reducing 75 thousand tons of greenhouse gas emissions through energy recovery from waste heat."