Page 17 from: What’s inside issue #4?

COUNTRY REPORT

17recyclinginternational.com | July/August | 2024

We’re in Kocaeli, a densely populated
district on the Marmara Sea, east of
Istanbul. This is one of Türkiye’s most
industrialised regions with two major
ports and a concentration of chemical
companies and car producers, among
others. There is also a handful of recy-
cling businesses and one of them is
Exitcom Recycling, founded and led
by Murat Ilgar.

MAN ON A MISSION
Ilgar is a man on a mission. Helping to
make the world a better place to live
is what he stands for. ‘I want to do
good for my country and the people I
work with,’ he says over Turkish tea in
his e-scrap art-decorated office. He’s
also an entrepreneur and a business-
man seeing opportunities and taking
on challenges.
Early in his career, Ilgar moved to
Germany where he founded Exitcom
as an e-scrap company near Hannover
in 1999. Four years later, in 2003, he
expanded his business to Türkiye.
‘Honestly, in that time there was not
much happening in the field of e-scrap
recycling in my home country. But,
obviously, with electronics consump-
tion increasing rapidly, I saw plenty of
opportunities.’

BUILT FROM SCRATCH
Ilgar bought some land in Kocaeli and
built the Exitcom Türkiye division. He
established the treatment lines him-
self, through his experience and know-
how.
Twenty-one years on, Exitcom Türkiye
handles 15 000 tonnes of e-scrap per
year. It operates a nationwide collec-
tion system, with a strong focus on
greater Istanbul and Ankara. The com-
pany has introduced joint take-back
programmes with big brands and
chains across the country of 85 million
people.

‘We take almost anything that’s elec-
tric,’ says Ilgar during a short tour of
the facility. ‘I’m proud that everything
going through our hands is recycled or
reused. There’s no waste lost, not even
the plastics.’ For example, Exitcom’s
cartridge toner plastic stream ends up
in the production of plastic hangers –
50 000 per year – used by the Migros
retail chain among others.

BATTERY FOCUS
Launched in 2015, a crucial and grow-
ing part of the Exitcom Türkiye busi-
ness is battery recycling, with lithium-
ion being a fast-growing infeed.
Exitcom is the only certified (lithium-
ion) battery recycler in Türkiye, cur-
rently processing 10 000 tonnes of
materials. ‘We’re kind of leading the
way, and we feel the responsibility to
create a best practice that sets an
example for Türkiye and beyond,’ says
Ilgar.
Opposite Exitcom’s HQ and main facil-
ity, a modern new plant dedicated to
battery recycling, both mechanical and
chemical, is being built. The R&D cen-

Murat Ilgar: ‘There’s no waste lost. Everything going through our hands is recycled or reused.’

MEET OUR LAB GUYS
Exitcom’s new battery facility includes a modern
lab for R&D. The company has invested EUR 500
000. Recycling of batteries is done both mechani-
cally and chemically. The first step is mechanical:
aluminium, black mass, iron and plastics are taken
out. Next, black mass coming from the mechanical
treatment goes through a chemical process which
unlocks critical raw materials such as manganese,
cobalt and lithium.

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