The Şişecam Group prioritizes its social responsibility projects in the areas of environment, sports, culture, art and education in order to contribute and add value to the community as a requisite of being a corporate citizen of the countries where the Group acts.

Contribution to Cultural Assets

Antique Glass Works Collection

Şişecam’s collection consisting of 520 antique glassworks which it brought together to preserve cultural values and which reflects a history of nearly 3,500 years – is registered with the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. The collection is also preserved and exhibited in a specially prepared area at Şişecam’s headquarters.

Aiming to preserve and pass on our cultural heritage to future generations, Şişecam exhibited the first of its History-Culture-Glass Collections in Paşabahce Mağazaları in 1999. These special collections are designed to reflect Anatolia’s historical and cultural richness through glass artworks. Some 500 different artefacts among limited collections were brought together in this effort. A total of 13 collections - including Ottoman, Blue and White on Glass, Artistic Writing on Glass, Enamelled Glass, Mosaics, Anatolian Civilizations, 7, Ashura, Istanbul, Crystalline Chinas, Talking Moneys/Coins, Zevk-i Selim and World Heritage in Glass - have been arranged to date.

Contribution to Education and Training​

Şişecam continued contributing to education and completed the construction of “Yenişehir Şişecam Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School” within the scope of the protocol signed between the Governorate of Bursa, Provincial National Education Directorate and the Municipality of Yenişehir. The school built by Şişecam Group was transferred to the Ministry of National Education and opened. The school started the academic year 2019 with 16 classrooms, three laboratories and 13 workshops. A total of 280 students currently continue their education at the school in the 2020-2021 academic year.

As part of the cooperation protocol signed with the Ministry of National Education, a Mechatronics unit was opened in the Industrial Automation department in the school in 2020. Students studying in this unit will have internship opportunities in Şişecam, and when they graduate, they will work as technical staff at all levels in our workplaces to meet our human resources needs. In the 2020-2021 academic year, 42 students continue their education in the Mechatronics unit of the Industrial Automation department.

Şişecam Private Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, which was built by Şişecam in Mersin Tarsus Organized Industrial Zone (MTOSB) and handed over to the Ministry of National Education, provides support for more young people to have occupations with the training activities carried out since 2014- 2015 Education Term. In addition, Şişecam constructed the Private Şişecam Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Mersin and it comprises 44 classrooms and one workshop. 1,014 students are studying at the school in the 2020-2021 academic year. 210 out of 610 students who graduated from the school have already started working. Others continue their university education.

Contribution to Environmental Values

Şişecam sets aside areas between five to 10 acres within the sites of its facilities as forest land. “Şişecam Forests” are also brought to life in all regions where the Group conducts operations. The Şişecam Forest, which was initiated in line with the company’s forestation efforts in Yalıköy area where it had its mines and pit facilities, now covers an area of 368 dunams. In 2017, forestation efforts on a 32-thousand-square-meter area around Karabük Eflani Breaking and Sieving Plant was completed.

After starting operations in 2008 at quartz sand mine site in Bilecik/Bayırköy township, production in the 400-thousand-square-meter area of the site is scheduled to end in 2020-2021. Rehabilitation-stratification works for this site are in progress and about 350 thousand square meters of the site is planned to be afforested in 2022.

Thanks to the sapling planting efforts initiated in the Cankurtaran area by the Şişecam Cam Ev Eşyası plant in Denizli, a mini forest has been created with mature trees on an area of three dunams. In the factory area, of which approximately 50% is green, the number of trees and saplings has reached 18 thousand.

Şişecam Kimyasallar factories initiated planting activities in Mersin in 2006. Efforts to determine designated forestlands and plant trees continues every year. During the 14th Tree Planting Festival in 2020, 2,000 saplings were planted by the families of company employees and retirees. Some 45,500 trees have been planted since the festival first commenced 15 years ago.

At Mersin-Kazanlı coastline, which is one of the most important spawning areas in the world for the endangered Caretta and Chelonia Mydas turtles, coast cleaning activities are carried out every year before spawning season to support the protection of the turtles.

Şisecam’s “Glass and Glass Again” project, managed since 2011, is one of Turkey’s most comprehensive sustainability and social responsibility initiatives. This effort is designed to create change in social behavior and support the transition to a recycling aware society. Glass and Glass Again have three primary objectives:

• Raising awareness and informing society about recycling glass packaging,

• Improving the infrastructure to collect glass packaging waste,

• Streamlining the facilities where glass packaging waste is collected and processed, and separating glass packaging waste found in household waste before storage.

Since the start of the Glass and Glass Again initiative in 2011, 256,760 elementary school students have received training on recycling, more than 20 thousand glass recycling bins were provided for use by municipalities, and 1,480 thousand tons of glass waste have been recycled. As a result of the project, carbon dioxide emission was prevented equivalent to withdrawing 533,019 cars from the roads for 10,000 km; energy savings from recycling has been achieved equivalent to meeting the heating, and hot water needs of 62,186 households for a year; and carbon dioxide emission has been prevented equivalent to purifying the air with 45,714,677 trees in one year.

Efforts of the Glass and Glass Again Project to create a social recycling awareness was awarded by the Sustainability Academy in the Sustainable Business Award Platform under the “Social Impact” category in 2019. Preventing 8.2 billion glass bottles to go to waste, Glass and Glass Again Project has reached more than 3 million persons with various events and activities and managed to raise awareness on the importance of glass recycling.

Glass and Glass Again Grows in Social Media!

With social media accounts that show a steady rise in access and interaction numbers each day, Glass and Glass Again have boosted its average monthly interaction rates in social media to 4,5 million. There were also live broadcasts of the events realized throughout the year on social media accounts, through which the importance of recycling, information on the use of glass, and benefits of recycling were shared with different fictions. By year’s end, Glass and Glass Again recorded 176,000 followers on Facebook and 30 thousand followers on Instagram. The Glass and Glass Again project provides a significant contribution to awareness and consciousness-raising activities thanks to the interaction with large target groups through social media accounts.

Contribution to Sports

Şişecam Çayırova Sports Club​

Çayırova Sports Club, founded by Şişecam under the name of Çayırova Yelken İhtisas Spor Kulübü Derneği (Çayırova Sailing Expertise Sports Club Association), started its activities in 1982 at Çayırova social facilities to encourage young people to do sports and contribute to the development of their physical and moral capabilities; and achieved federate club status from the General Directorate of Youth and Sports in 1984.

With a team of some 120 athletes and managers, the Club trains young athletes in the sports of sailing, rowing and canoeing to contribute to the Turkish sports.

Between 1984 and 2020, a total of 1960 athletes, 79 of whom are national, trained at the Sailing Division of Şişecam Çayırova Sports Club. Besides, three teams went on to become Turkish national champions.

Çayırova Sports Club’s Rowing Division hosted 1,960 athletes from 1984 to 2020. Between 2002 and 2019, a total of 55 rowing athletes won international medals while 193 rowers from the Club went on to become professional athletes in the sport. Over 100 of the Club’s athletes participated in the Turkey championship. Trainers raised on the Rowing Division’s infrastructure perform duties at seven of the 27 registered clubs of the Turkish Rowing Federation, and three of the six universities competing in the university rowing league.

Having started up in April 2009, Şişecam Çayırova Sports Club’s Canoe Division is active in five categories of Flat Water (Canoe Sprint) K1 and C1 boat classes. From 2010 to 2020, 14 athletes from the Club were selected for the national team. Some 70 licensed canoe athletes participated in national competitions, and 14 athletes participated in international competitions. At Turkey Championship events, the Club’s Canoe Division has won 308 first place, 194 second place, and 134 third place awards. At international competitions, the Canoe Division has won 4 first place, 4 second place, and 11 third place awards. The Canoe Divisions has won a total of 655 medals.

The Canoe Division participated in the national team qualifying races in the 2020 activity program, winning 4 first place and 2 third place awards in total. Our canoe athletes who participated in the Canoe Sprint National Team Candidates Qualifying Races held between February and March, won two first place and two third place awards. For of our athletes who participated in the races qualified to attend the national team camp.

In the international races where 76 athletes from 12 countries competed, our national athlete Özge Uzar came third, and İbrahim Fırat and Cihan Yıldız came the second.

The athletes of Şişecam Çayırova Sports won two first place, one second place, and three third place medals in the Optimist General, Optimist Junior and Optimist Women categories of the races organized as part of the 2020 event schedule of the Turkish Sailing Federation.

The Rowing Division participated in one national and four regional races in 2020 and won first place in five categories, second place in three categories, and third-place in six categories. They were also selected for the national team for the International Zagreb Races.