ANTALYA: Zero waste moves from a presidency theme to the leaders’ table tomorrow, 11 November, as COP31 marks its Zero Waste Day — the first day of the Antalya Leaders’ Summit. World leaders will hold a dedicated roundtable on Zero Waste, Circularity and Methane, while UNEP and the Zero Waste Foundation open the day with a spotlight session on cutting food waste and the methane it produces.
The day is one of the twelve thematic days of COP31, which runs from 9 to 20 November at the Antalya Expo Centre. It coincides with the arrival of heads of state and government for the two-day Leaders’ Summit, held under the theme “Towards a Sustainable, Resilient and Equitable Future”.
COP31 Zero Waste Day: what happens on 11 November
The Leaders’ Summit opens at 12:15 with a session led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres also speaking. National statements by heads of state and government follow from 14:30 to 18:30 in Plenary Anadolu.
The centrepiece for waste is the Leaders’ Roundtable on Zero Waste, Circularity and Methane, scheduled for 16:00 to 17:30 as a High-Level Special Event of the summit, according to the UNFCCC programme. It sits alongside a High-Level Dialogue on clean energy transition and electrification — “35 by 35: Powering the Future” — at 15:00 to 16:30, and a UN Secretary-General event on Early Warnings for All at 17:00 to 18:30.
The day opens with the Food Waste Breakthrough spotlight session, co-organised by UNEP and the Zero Waste Foundation, from 10:30 to 11:30 in Special Event Room 1 of the Blue Zone. Described by UNEP as a COP31 Priority Spotlight Event, it will ask how political commitments and growing stakeholder engagement can be turned into concrete implementation and measurable results. Three Country Champions will share progress made in the first year, followed by three breakout discussions on food waste and cities, the role of food businesses, and climate action and limiting overshoot.
Zero Waste Day continues across the pavilions. The French Solid Waste Partnership lists a session on the circular economy in the Mediterranean at the France Pavilion from 11:30 to 13:00, and “Zero Waste, Healthy Planet — Circularity Without Harm” at the Health Pavilion from 17:00 to 18:00. Zero Waste Europe is holding sessions at the Italian Pavilion from 11:30 to 13:00, the German Climate Pavilion from 14:00 to 15:00, and the Türkiye Pavilion from 17:15 to 18:00. Ireland is also scheduled to present a declaration on surplus food sharing and redistribution at the Irish Pavilion from 16:30 to 18:00.
The programme begins today, 10 November, with “From Waste to Opportunity: Advancing Zero Waste for Lower Emissions and Resilient Cities” at the Malaysia Pavilion from 15:30 to 16:30, organised by the Zero Waste Foundation with Veolia chief executive Estelle Brachlianoff among the speakers.
The 2035 targets behind the day
Zero Waste Day carries the COP31 Presidency’s two hard targets for 2035: cut the projected growth in global annual municipal solid waste by at least 50 per cent, and raise the global circular-material use rate to at least 15 per cent. The targets were announced in September during New York Climate Week and confirmed by COP31 President Murat Kurum on 27 October. Watan News reported the 2035 zero-waste targets when they were set out ahead of the summit.
The targets sit within the presidency’s Action Agenda, one of whose ten priorities is “Zero Waste and Methane Emissions Reduction”. The agenda is the track where governments, cities, businesses and civil society turn climate frameworks into projects and partnerships on the ground.
The push now is for waste and circularity to be recognised in the final Antalya declaration. Carlos Silva Filho, special adviser to the COP31 Climate High-Level Champion, has said the Brazilian government wants proper waste management and zero waste recognised in the declaration, and that the Zero Waste Action Platform — launched in Türkiye in June from COP30 discussions — is matching climate initiatives with the finance, regulation and infrastructure they need.
Why waste matters for the climate
The scale of the problem is set out in UNEP’s Global Waste Management Outlook 2024. Municipal solid waste is predicted to grow from 2.3 billion tonnes in 2023 to 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050 if no urgent action is taken. The direct cost of waste management was 252 billion dollars in 2020 and could reach 640.3 billion dollars by 2050. Only 19 per cent of municipal solid waste is currently recycled.
Food waste is the sharpest edge of the problem. UNEP’s Food Waste Index 2024 found that 1.05 billion tonnes of food were wasted in 2022 at retail, food service and household levels — 19 per cent of the food available to consumers. Households accounted for 631 million tonnes, or 60 per cent of the total. Food loss and waste generate 8 to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, largely because food rotting in landfills produces methane.
The Food Waste Breakthrough, launched at COP30 by UNEP and partners as a 2030 Climate Solution under the Marrakech Partnership, aims to halve global food waste by 2030 and keep food out of landfills. It is led by UNEP with champion countries Brazil, Japan and the United Kingdom. Wednesday’s spotlight session is its first major test at COP31: whether a year of commitments can become delivery.
Türkiye’s zero-waste showcase
The host country is presenting its own zero-waste record as the model. The Zero Waste Movement was launched in 2017 under the leadership of first lady Emine Erdoğan and has grown into a nationwide mobilisation spanning households, schools, municipalities, businesses and public institutions.
According to Mr Kurum, Türkiye increased its recycling rate from 13 per cent in 2017 to 37 per cent in 2025, recovering 90 million tonnes of waste and contributing approximately 365 billion lira — about 8.4 billion dollars — to the economy over the period. The target is a 60 per cent recycling rate by 2035. The country’s Deposit Return System, known as DOA, has returned 520 million packages for reuse and recycling.
The Zero Waste Foundation, whose president Samed Ağırbaş serves as the COP31 Climate High-Level Champion, runs the dedicated Zero Waste Pavilion at the summit — a building with three auditoriums and 180 plenary sessions planned across the two weeks. Mrs Erdoğan is the founder of the Zero Waste Movement, chairs the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Zero Waste, and is honorary president of the Foundation.
The movement’s international roots go back to the UN General Assembly, which adopted the zero-waste resolution on Türkiye’s proposal on 14 December 2022, supported by 105 countries. The 30th of March is now observed as the International Day of Zero Waste, facilitated by UNEP and UN-Habitat.
The critique: prevention, not just management
Not everyone is convinced by the presidency’s approach. Greenpeace Türkiye has argued, according to AFP reporting, that the Action Agenda focuses on managing waste after it is produced rather than preventing it at source, and has noted that Türkiye has not endorsed the Global Methane Pledge and still imports plastic waste from Europe. The criticism is a reminder that Zero Waste Day will be judged not only on the events it stages, but on whether the leaders’ roundtable produces commitments that cut waste at its source.
For now, the test is set for tomorrow: a leaders’ roundtable, a food-waste spotlight and a full day of pavilion sessions will show whether zero waste at COP31 is a theme — or a delivery discipline. The twelve thematic days of COP31 continue with Resilient Cities on 12 November and Finance and Trade on 13 November.
Key facts
- 11 November is Zero Waste Day at COP31 and Day 1 of the Antalya Leaders’ Summit, 11–12 November.
- Leaders’ Roundtable on Zero Waste, Circularity and Methane: 11 November, 16:00–17:30 (UNFCCC programme).
- Food Waste Breakthrough spotlight: 11 November, 10:30–11:30, Blue Zone Special Event Room 1 (UNEP + Zero Waste Foundation).
- COP31 targets for 2035: cut projected growth in global municipal waste by at least 50% and raise the circular-material use rate to at least 15%.
- UNEP: municipal waste could grow from 2.3 billion tonnes in 2023 to 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050; food waste is 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Türkiye: recycling rate rose from 13% in 2017 to 37% in 2025, with a 60% target for 2035.
