Recycling Cooperatives in the Scope of Concern for Community Principle and Sustainable Development: Good Cooperative Practices around the World and Turkey

TOPIC 1-STAGE 2-MICRO Our world has turned into global village and national borders have been removed with administrative political and economic regulations by countries in order to make international trade easier. In other... [ view full abstract ]

TOPIC 1-STAGE 2-MICRO
Our world has turned into global village and national borders have been removed with administrative political and economic regulations by countries in order to make international trade easier. In other respects, economic developments have come with global economic crises. At this point, cooperative enterprises, which work on self-help and solidarity values, diminish the effects of crises maintaining the resilience with its unique and significant structure. As a matter of fact, cooperative movement has emerged with the result of capitalist market economies ‘crises and failures in the last 19th centuries. Today, cooperative enterprises have appealed to wide population of world and considered as a third sector after public and private sectors.
Our planet has come up with not only economic crises but also environmental crises since 1970s. Humans have struggled with global warming, waste problem, depletion of natural resources, necessity of raw materials and pollution. To overcome environmental crisis, recycling cooperatives and cooperatives engaged in recycling activities may be determined as an alternative solution in the concern for community principle of cooperatives on behalf of sustainable development.
This study is mainly divided in three parts. The first part is related to the recycling or waste pickers cooperatives whose activities are directly based on waste collection, sorting and recycling with demonstration of recycling cooperatives’ examples in developing countries. The second part includes institutional big cooperatives in Turkey which engage in recycling activities on behalf of sustainable development and environmental responsibility such as Pankobirlik and Marmarabirlik. At the end of this study, the establishment conditions of recycling cooperatives in Turkey are taken up on the basis of public policies, waste management, recycling sector, waste pickers and civil society.
Key words: recycling cooperatives, waste management, waste pickers, and sustainable development.