Zero waste certificate is defined as “a document whose qualifications are determined by the Ministry, and that will be issued to local administrations establishing zero waste management systems as well as the other institutions and organizations defined in ANNEX-1 and to those who establish a zero waste management system on a voluntary basis”, according to the Article 4, Paragraph 1, subparagraph (ş) of the Zero Waste Regulation, published in the Official Gazette (OG-12/07/2019-30829). It is stated in the Article 15, Paragraph 1 of the same regulation that the zero waste certificate is issued at four different levels as basic, silver, gold and platinum, and in the Article 16, paragraph 2 (Amended: RG-9/10/2021-31623), it is also indicated that "among the institutions and organizations holding the basic level zero waste certificate; provincial municipalities and district municipalities with a population of over fifty thousand,organized industrial zones, shopping malls, airports, ports, enterprises with 250 rooms and more accomodation capacity, chain markets, and universities are obliged to obtain silver, gold or platinum zero waste certificate”, and that “the other institutions and organizations holding the basic level zero waste certificate can apply for a silver, gold and platinum zero waste certificate if they request”. Within the scope of the signed protocol with the Turkish Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, the criteria to be met to obtain the silver, gold and platinum zero waste certificates were determined by Boğaziçi University, Sustainable Development and Cleaner Production Center.

Under the five main headings of “Waste Reduction and Prevention Activities”, “Reuse Activities”, “Loss Reduction Activities”, “Supply and Logistics Activities”, and “Awareness Raising Activities”, within the scope of the subheadings of purchasing, leadership, training, zero waste reporting, system design, waste prevention and reduction, reuse, compost, recycle, zero waste analysis, resource management, hazardous waste management, special waste management, diversion, closed-loop systems, and sustainability, qualified zero waste certification criteria and scoring principles were specified. The level of the certification is determined by the Ministry based on the diversion rate, which is taken into account in the zero waste certification criteria, and to be eligible for application regarding the qualified zero waste certification, this diversion rate is required not to be less than 15% (mandatory criterion) (here: Zero Waste Regulation, OG-12/07/2019-30829, ANNEX-4). The development of these criteria, in accordance with the purposes of reducing greenhouse gas emissions stemming from traditional waste management applications, making resource management more efficient in environmental, social and economic aspects, adopting circular economy principles, and most importantly, minimizing the amount of generated waste, is considered as one of the significant steps as part of the zero waste system.