Land is Clean, Sea is Clean, Environment is Clean in Mersin

Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Environmental Protection and Control Department worked non-stop in 2022 for a cleaner and greener Mersin. Environmental Protection and Control Department, which has signed important projects and collaborations with national and international organizations in order to protect nature; The year 2022 was spent to the fullest with the services it provided on many subjects such as cleaning of terrestrial pollution, protection of Mersin sea, collection of wastes, sea and noise inspections, pest control, disinfection processes and providing environmental awareness trainings to students.

Halisdemir: “We trained our students on environmental awareness”

Stating that some of the duties of the Department of Environmental Protection and Control have been transferred to the newly established Department of Climate Change and Zero Waste, Head of the Department of Environmental Protection and Control, Dr. Bülent Halisdemir evaluated the services of 2022. Stating that they continue their student education, which they took a break due to the pandemic, Halisdemir said, “We have increased our activities so that our students and young people are more sensitive to environmental issues. We have trained nearly 2 students. We took students to the Marine Sciences Institute of the Middle East Technical University all the time.”

“We carry out very serious inspections in order not to disturb the vital comfort of our citizens”

Adding to his words that they carry out works on behalf of the environment at every point within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Municipality, Halisdemir said, “For example, we carry out very serious inspections in order not to disturb the vital comfort of our citizens regarding noise. In addition, our technical colleagues from our unit examine all complaints related to the environment on the spot, working on a 7/24 basis.”

“We sprayed 2022 million 1 thousand times in 300”

Stating that for a clean Mersin, routine cleaning continues on avenues, streets, boulevards, squares and connection roads over 15 meters, Halisdemir invited the citizens to be sensitive about not polluting the environment. Sharing 2022 data on pest control, Halisdemir said, “In 2022, we sprayed 1 million 300 thousand times. We received nearly 40 thousand complaints from our citizens. We would have gone 100 percent of them all. We have over 160 resource points that we know can spawn on a regular basis. We use very high quality drugs in the struggle. We put special substances so that the drugs we use do not harm the environment, human health, and even other lives.

Halisdemir said that instead of using chemical pesticides for the larvae formed in approximately 49 thousand irrigation ponds in Mersin, they implemented the guppy fish release project they developed with Mersin University and said, “We tried for 1.5 years. We've seen it succeed. We started throwing it into the pools. Our guppy fish are currently operating in more than two thousand ponds, where they also multiply. Sometimes we take it from those pools and distribute it to other places.”

Referring to the maritime inspection activities they have carried out, Halisdemir said, “We carried out 2022 inspections in 292. We have penalized 13 of them. We imposed severe penalties. Our aim is to prevent the pollution of our sea. People from all over the sea can easily enter. We want them to benefit from seafood,” he said.

With the barrier system, solid wastes will be prevented from reaching the sea.

Sharing the information that they have completed the Clean Mediterranean Project they carried out with METU and that they have moved to the reporting part, Halisdemir talked about the barrier system, which is their new project to prevent pollution, and said, “We have obtained very serious data and made all kinds of analysis of sea pollution in Mersin. So we know where and what kind of pollution comes from. Now we will work to prevent them. There is a process that leads to the decomposition of solid wastes, which we call terrestrial pollution, when they reach the sea over time, or their exposure to sunlight in the sea, and their decomposition and transformation into microplastics. We said then, let's build a barrier to our rivers. Let's contain these solid wastes and other wastes with these barriers. Let's get it there at the source, at least we can prevent them from falling apart in the seas. We have a barrier system now. In the near future, we will first implement it in Müftü Creek. Then we planned all the other streams,” he said.

“We clean approximately 3 thousand kilometers of roads, streets, boulevards, streets and squares every day”

Stating that they have the authority to conduct inspections in a very limited area of ​​Mersin's 321-kilometer coastline, Halisdemir said that they have applied to the relevant ministry to expand their authority. Stating that they inspected ships with sea vehicles and drones, Halisdemir stated that they will continue to work to keep Mersin and its sea clean, and said, “We have collected tons of waste from our sea. We have made very serious inspections about noise, we are doing, we will. We clean approximately 3 thousand kilometers of roads, streets, boulevards, streets and squares every day. We put a lot of effort into it. Our friends all over the province work in this way. We plan to increase our work even more in 2023,” he said.