environmental-management

Environmental Management

Boosting Energy Efficiency
Waste Management and Circular Economy
Contributing to the Business Plastics Initiative
Studies with the Circular Economy Approach
Our Must Vital Source: Water Management
Our Must Vital Source: Water Management

We protect Natural Resources

At Tüpraş, which attaches importance to the efficient use of resources, waste management is managed in line with the requirements of the Company's Environmental Management Policy, Waste Policy and ISO 14001 Environmental Management System, as well as the principles of the circular economy, in which waste is used as raw material instead of a traditional waste management perspective. Instead of using natural resources, we determine the areas where wastes can be used as raw materials and act with the understanding of industrial symbiosis.

Tüpraş has been following the Zero Waste Management process sensitively from the very beginning and initiated the Zero Waste Movement to reduce waste in its refineries, separate it at the source and raise awareness of waste management. The roadmap of the Zero Waste process has been created by the Zero Waste Movement team and steps are taken decisively in accordance with the roadmap.

All refineries of Tüpraş and the Head Office have the Basic Level Zero Waste Certificate. When the Qualified Certificate criteria are published by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change of the Republic of Turkey, Tüpraş will apply for a Qualified Certificate. On the other hand, trainings and optimization studies continue in order to spread the "Zero Waste" perspective in all operations and activities.

Life Cycle Analysis

Tüpraş is a member of the Product Management Working Group within Koç Holding. The risk and opportunity analysis for product management at Tüpraş has been completed and indicators and targets are in the process of being determined. It is planned to implement the product management strategy in the coming period.

Tüpraş organized trainings throughout the year to raise awareness about life cycle thinking and analysis. The common goal of these trainings is to ensure that all process teams adopt life cycle thinking and to disseminate this approach.

Within the scope of Tüpraş's internal practices, environmental opinion is required for projects proposed to the investment program. In order to evaluate this opinion on an equal basis in all refineries, control criteria and warning documents have been created and made available to be used in the pre-feasibility and feasibility stages of the investment program. Thus, the life cycle of the projects in the investment program, their resource consumption and the environmental burdens they create are handled with a standardized approach. This approach ensures that environmental impacts are taken into account in investment decisions.

Studies within the Scope of Life Cycle Analysis
You can Access Our 2024 Integrated Report

2024 Integrated Report

Boosting Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is an operational priority as part of our 2050 Carbon Neutral goal.

20202021202220232024
Number of Energy Efficiency Projects (#)3874597580
Energy Efficiency Savings (TJ)1.1682.6931.9612.0851.821
Energy Efficiency Savings (USD million)513352919
GHG Emissions Reductions through Energy Efficiency Projects (tonnes CO2e)65.986149.696108.461115.140141.581

Thanks to our energy efficiency and modernization efforts, our energy density index amounted to 94.9 point in 2022.

EII Development by Years
Graph

We continuously increase our energy efficiency and energy saving efforts every year for higher productivity and profitability in production.

We also maintain our renewable energy investments in line with our Carbon Neutral goal. In 2022, we commissioned for a capacity of 89.1 MW, with field installation works still ongoing. The existing renewable energy sources in our refineries generated 3,379 MWh in 2022.

Waste Management and Circular Economy

At Tüpraş, which attaches importance to the efficient use of resources, waste management is managed in line with the requirements of the Company's Environmental Management Policy, Waste Policy and ISO 14001 Environmental Management System, as well as the principles of the circular economy, in which waste is used as raw material instead of a traditional waste management perspective. Instead of using natural resources, we determine the areas where wastes can be used as raw materials and act with the understanding of industrial symbiosis.

Tüpraş has been following the Zero Waste Management process sensitively from the very beginning and initiated the Zero Waste Movement to reduce waste in its refineries, separate it at the source and raise awareness of waste management. The roadmap of the Zero Waste process has been created by the Zero Waste Movement team and steps are taken decisively in accordance with the roadmap.

All refineries of Tüpraş and the Head Office have the Basic Level Zero Waste Certificate.

When the Qualified Certificate criteria are published by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change of the Republic of Turkey, Tüpraş will apply for a Qualified Certificate. On the other hand, trainings and optimization studies continue in order to spread the "Zero Waste" perspective in all operations and activities.

Within the scope of the Regulation on Waste Collection from Ships and Waste Control, Tüpraş İzmir and İzmit Refineries have a waste acceptance license from ships.

With this license, wastes within the scope of MARPOL 73/78 (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Ships) are taken from ships and managed. Within the scope of the Marpol Convention, in line with Annex-I, hydrocarbon-containing liquid wastes such as bilge, slop, sludge are taken from the ships and then rested in the relevant tanks in the refinery and phase separation is carried out. The hydrocarbon formed is recycled in the refinery, and the wastewater is treated in the industrial wastewater treatment plant. The discharged treated wastewater also includes these wastewaters.

During the cleaning of the tanks at certain periods, the sludge formed at the bottom of the tank is sent to licensed recycling facilities for disposal. Within the scope of Marpol Annex-IV, domestic wastewater is taken from ships and treated and discharged in the treatment plant. After the wastes within the scope of Marpol Annex-V and Annex-VI are taken from the ships, they are stored in the hazardous waste temporary storage areas in the refinery and sent to the contracted licensed facilities for disposal/recovery.

Atık Yönetimi

All our refineries and our Head Office building hold the Basic Level Zero Waste Certificate.

We take the "Zero Waste" perspective in all our operations and activities and organize training courses and optimization actions to further spread the concept.

We run R&D studies and seek new collaborations to recover catalysts, activated carbons, refractory waste, waste sand from sandblasting, absorbents, waste mud, and used caustic and utilize them as secondary raw materials.

Tüpraş Waste Management Process Map

Tüpraş Atık Yönetim Süreç Haritası

Waste Recovery Rate (%)

Atık Geri Kazanım Oranı

Contribution to the Business Plastics Initiative

As a member of the Business Plastics Initiative (IPG), Koç Holding has committed to zeroing single-use plastics by 2023. The initiative to reduce single-use plastics, which was launched at Tüpraş in 2021, continued in 2024. In this context, the use of single-use plastic waste from employees was zeroed in 2024. Tüpraş reports the outputs of its Waste Management processes with two approaches: recycling and disposal values.

Electronic waste (e-waste) is also included in waste values; As stated in the Tüpraş Waste Management Process Map, initiatives are being carried out to evaluate options for reducing, recycling, reusing and transforming these wastes into alternative products. The majority of the wastes generated from Tüpraş's activities are sent directly to licensed facilities that will enable the waste to be recycled and used as alternative raw materials in different processes. E-wastes are also sent to recycling facilities and recycled. The remaining small amount of waste (~5% of the total waste) is sent to licensed waste collection sites for disposal and processed.

Studies with the Circular Economy Approach

In addition to resource reduction and resource recovery efforts, Tüpraş has implemented studies that will be among the best practices on an international scale thanks to the industrial symbioses established.

In 2024, the focus was on industrial symbiosis projects and the continuity of existing practices and the implementation of new projects that will enable refinery process wastes to be brought into the circular economy in order to use wastes as alternative raw materials.

Studies on the recovery of catalysts, activated carbons, refractory wastes, sandblasting sand wastes, absorbents, waste sludge and used caustic and their evaluation as secondary raw materials are supported by R&D studies and new collaborations are established. Hazardous waste export permit has been obtained in order to send used catalysts containing precious metals such as Co, Mo, Ni, W, Pt and Re, which cannot be recycled in Turkey, for recycling instead of disposal by landfill. Thus, it contributed to the reduction of natural resource consumption and the circular economy.

In addition to industrial symbiosis processes, studies on the development of new symbiosis processes or the recovery of waste sludge and used caustic for recovery processes and their evaluation as secondary raw materials are supported by R&D studies and new collaborations are established. Compost is produced from food waste with compost machines in refineries and used as fertilizer in refinery green areas. In addition, collaborations have been developed and implemented to obtain biogas from domestic wastes going to landfill in Izmit and Izmir Refineries. Thus, domestic wastes are evaluated by producing energy. With the contribution of industrial symbiosis and recovery processes at Tüpraş, the waste recovery rate in 2024 exceeded the targeted value and reached 97% (Tüpraş consolidated). Earnings from waste recovery and industrial symbiosis amounted to TL 115 million in 2024.

Our Must Vital Source: Water Management

We aim to reduce our water consumption, use water sustainably, and preserve biological diversity.

18.1 million m3

Tüpraş consumed a total of 18.1 million m3 of raw water for its operations throughout 2022,

0.72 m3/metric tons

The ratio of raw water used per unit of crude oil was registered as 0.72 m3/metric tons.

15.7 million m3

Within the same period, total water recovery reached 15.7 million m3.

Tüpraş continuously monitors the ratio of consumed water to crude oil in its refineries with a view to reduce raw water consumption, and subsequently reduce the use of natural resources, use natural resources sustainably, preserve biological diversity, and gain economic benefits.

Tüpraş takes numerous measures for water efficiency. These include reducing natural resource consumption at refineries through the recovery of refinery and urban waste water through the Waste Water Recovery Unit, reusing condensed steam as a water source, reusing process waste water in production units once treated in preliminary treatment units, and optimizing water use in the cooling towers.

Wastewater Recovery*

Çöp
Our goals in effective water management include;
Reducing raw water consumption,
Minimizing environmental damage stemming from waste water discharge,
Monitoring, reporting, and verifying water from a holistic perspective.

Example EU-backed projects in water management

AquaSPICE

We will introduce an innovative technology to recover wastewater in the field in Izmit Refinery.Scheduled to be completed in 2023, the project also contributes to the digitalization goals.

CORALIS

The rich caustic will be neutralized and purified from pollutants by the refinery processes before being fed into and eliminated by the Waste Water Treatment Unit and subsequently delivered to another company without any further processing to be used in industrial symbiosis.

Cooperation on Biodiversity

In the 2024 Global Risks Report published by the World Economic Forum, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are among the top 4 risks of the next 10 years. The loss of biodiversity as a result of the activities carried out can bring significant risks for organizations, such as supply chain disruptions, increased operational costs and reputational damage. Preserving biodiversity and integrating it into business processes is important for environmental management as well as for the long-term resilience and profitability of the organization. The condition of fauna and flora such as forests and living ecosystems in areas where raw water is extracted from operational activities, discharge points, and areas where renewable energy plants are located is of critical importance for Tüpraş. In this context, Tüpraş is committed to supporting the development of biodiversity within the Environmental Policy it has established, focusing on protecting all species and natural ecosystems, especially endangered species and endemic species, in a way that prevents land degradation, and sustainably managing and reducing impacts on biodiversity.

In 2021, Tüpraş created the Biodiversity Guide within the framework of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and in 2022, it established a team with the participation of employees from different disciplines to monitor this issue. The team examined international examples and good practices, discussed the place of biodiversity in Tüpraş's priority assessments, the need to determine a policy on biodiversity and the projects that need to be carried out. Tüpraş evaluates and monitors biodiversity efforts in the Sustainability Committee.

In 2023, Tüpraş's biodiversity assessment was conducted using the SBT-N Materiality Tool and IBAT tools. SBT-N Tool is a tool that points out the biodiversity importance of the environmental impacts of Encore-based employees and sectors, and the score of this importance, if any. Thanks to this tool, it is determined whether a sector affects the factors subject to biodiversity and if so, the magnitude of this effect.

IBAT is a tool that obtains data from local data providers and makes it available globally, providing numerical data on location-specific species and habitats. Since the resolution of this vehicle is 50 km, high numbers appear for species and habitats. For this reason, a study was also carried out with the national inventory tool "Noah's Ark" specific to the provinces where the refineries are located. Tüpraş plans to develop inventory tools for the future, determine a sectoral and location-based evaluation approach and create a mitigation plan.

Tek Yürek

Tüpraş evaluated the Biodiversity Risk Filter, a sectoral inventory tool developed by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), for a baseline study that could reveal the current situation in 2024 and determine the correct positioning of the first actions. This tool, which assesses physical and reputational risks, is also in line with the approaches of the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Science Based Targets for Nature (SBTN).

In the WWF Biodiversity Risk Filter tool, physical and reputational risks are evaluated in 8 categories, in a total of 33 indicators; Indicators are associated with a total of 56 metrics in the sub-breakdown. In this analysis tool, the activities and investments of organizations basically seek answers to three questions:

  • How do activities/investments depend on the ecosystem/affect biodiversity?
  • Which geographic regions may pose a higher risk to operations/investments?
  • Certain business activities/investments are exposed to potential biodiversity-related risks.

According to the preliminary results of the biodiversity baseline, Tüpraş's four refinery facilities are located in high-risk ecosystem zones in terms of land, sea and air pollution metrics. In the case of the İzmit Refinery, this risk was evaluated at the level of "very high risk".

It has been observed that risk metrics such as the main biodiversity area, loss of tree cover and change in land, freshwater and marine use are also in the high risk category in the regions where refinery facilities are located. This base study will provide an input to investment evaluations by supporting the mapping of Tüpraş's biodiversity-related risks. The evaluation of the actions to be taken in the future regarding biodiversity and possible targets and commitments will be carried out with the participation of all subsidiaries of Tüpraş.

In addition, biodiversity impact assessment is also carried out during the environmental impact assessment process in new projects to be carried out at Tüpraş and the opinion of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is taken. In these evaluations, compliance with national and international conventions is committed and complied with. In the regions where our refineries are located, field studies have started to be carried out to evaluate the effect of flora and fauna, in addition to biodiversity literature studies. In addition to this process, ornithologist follow-ups are also carried out in new projects.

IBAT Biodiversity Inventory Table

IBAT Biodiversity Inventory Table