Marblesystems Tureks Holding Chairman of the Board Osman Cavit Turunç, The Climate Change Is Not A Drudgery For The Companies highlights the importance of bringing the waste marble from the quarries to the economy as a value-added product, emphasizing that sustainability can be achieved in the sector with the R&D studies of the companies and the search for innovative solutions.
To our interview, “Since its establishment, the main philosophy of Tureks Marble has been R&D, innovation and sustainability. We focused on turning the smallest piece of marble we extracted from our quarries into value-added products. We did not limit the budget of our work in this field. We are producing solutions that will increase our efficiency and profitability while preserving our sensitivity to the environment,” said Osman Cavit Turunç, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Marblesystems Tureks Holding.
“Instead of the 20 percent perfect block marble that comes out of our marble quarries, it processes the remaining 80 percent, we are a company that which is accepted as waste, and applies recycling, waste management, energy saving and efficiency at every stage of production with all its employees, has environmental and climate culture, and observes these values.” and he continues.
As one of Turkey’s oldest stone companies, Tureks, which has been operating in the marble, limestone, travertine, onyx and classical marble sectors since 1982, leads the sector by determining the trend in the natural stone coating market with its R&D studies that will add value to its products. Recycling, waste management, R&D, innovation and energy efficiency form the basis of Tureks’ sustainability approach. We talked with Osman Cavit Turunç, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Marblesystems Tureks Holding, with all the details of sustainability, green transformation, R&D and efficiency in the marble industry:
A less problematic environment means more and longer-lasting returns
“The relationship between environment and economy is still not understood in our country. It should become widespread as a company culture to use our raw materials in the best and most profitable way by using less energy. This should be the core business of companies. Climate change and environmentally sensitive studies and financing are not “chores” for companies. This issue should not be seen as a business that only a certain group is interested in or that “empty” people deal with. A less problematic environment means more and longer lasting returns. In addition, the way to reduce costs and profitability is to comply with the rules of green. There is a common belief among the business world and industrialists that studies in this field will increase the costs. It is necessary to explain to the business world, sector representatives and NGOs that every positive step we take will provide benefits and profits. Sectors do not want to take responsibility by referring to other sectors in this regard. However, there is a problem in front of us that concerns all of us closely and what needs to be done at the same time. Our motto as a company is that these studies are not a chore for us. Our aim is to reduce costs with work in all directions while increasing efficiency and profitability.”
With small details we can achieve big results
“The marble industry is a business with high energy consumption. Therefore, energy-saving and efficiency are important for our company. For this purpose, we conducted R&D studies on production methods in our quarries and in our factory and developed patented models. First of all, we focused on the evaluation of the rubble that comes out of the quarries and is classified as waste. This has been our main motivation since the establishment of our company and we have improved ourselves in this field. Because the evaluation of the removed rubble is very important for a green-friendly production. Our second working topic was about energy saving. The Este machine, which is still used in our industry to evaluate the rubble in quarries, is used for cutting blocks in factories. This causes a very serious loss of energy and efficiency. Block marble should be used in the machines we call catract, and Este should be used in rubble. We have succeeded in obtaining great results from small details, with the methods we have developed as a company and obtained patents under the names Moska and Boska. Moska increases the square meter efficiency obtained from 1 cubic meter of marble in our factories, and Boska increases the block efficiency in our quarries. These three methods form the basis of Tureks Marble’s work on climate change.”
We concentrated on 80 percent of marble, which is considered waste.
“Only 20 percent of the marble that comes out of the quarries is a perfect product. The remaining 80 percent is considered waste. As Tureks, we concentrated on this 80 percent segment. We carried out R&D and innovation studies on this waste material. One side of our work is actually waste management. We transform waste marble into economy by using it. In this regard, we can show our Manyas quarry as an example to the sector at the point of reaching zero waste. We make slabs from 20 percent of the marble that comes out. We use the remaining 40% for dimensional products, 20% for mosaic and 20% for cement processing. The products produced from waste marble in the Manyas quarry correspond to 15 percent of the sales. The rate we will get from 20 percent is only 5 percent. Such an organization, which was established on three quarries, corresponds to 50 percent of the sales, which is a very serious return. In addition, our product group with the highest profit margin consists of these products.