COP31 and the Zero Waste Vision: The Role of Ozone in Industrial Water Recovery
Introduction
Turkey is hosting the COP31 climate summit in Antalya in November 2026 for the first time. Alongside emission reductions and climate finance, the summit agenda features a theme Turkey has long championed: zero waste and the circular economy.
For industry, one of the most concrete and measurable expressions of this vision is water management. This post looks at what a zero waste approach means specifically for water, and how ozone gas serves as a practical tool in that shift.
What Does Zero Waste Mean for Industry?
The zero waste approach aims to manage resources in a production process circularly rather than linearly (take-make-dispose). This approach is now well established for solid waste and packaging in many sectors; water, however, is often left out of that circularity conversation.
Yet in many industrial processes (washing, cooling, CIP), water is still managed as a single-use input: drawn, used, discharged. This places unnecessary pressure on water resources and increases wastewater treatment and discharge costs.
The Obstacle to Water Circularity
The main reason process water cannot be reused is that each use adds organic load, microbial contamination, and dissolved pollutants. Simple filtration can capture suspended solids but cannot remove dissolved organic load or microbial risk — which is why water becomes unsafe to reuse after a few cycles.
The Role of Ozone Gas in Water Circularity
When injected into circulation water, ozone continuously inactivates microbial load and partially oxidises dissolved organic compounds, slowing the rate at which water quality declines. Together, these effects allow water to stay within acceptable quality limits across more cycles.
Critically, because ozone reverts to oxygen after reacting, it leaves no persistent chemical residue or salt build-up like chlorine does — important for both food safety and the chemical sustainability of repeated water reuse.
Applications Across Sectors
This approach applies to distinct sectors: food processing (fruit and vegetable wash water), CIP lines in dairy and cheese production, cooling tower circulation water, and textile process water. The common thread is the same in each case: a combination of filtration, ozone injection, and ORP/COD-based dose control turns water from a single-use input into a resource that can be safely circulated.
Industry's Share in the COP31 Context
Zero waste is usually discussed through the lens of municipal waste management at summits; industry's contribution matters just as much. Every industrial process that reduces water consumption and wastewater volume delivers direct resource savings and, indirectly, emission reductions tied to treatment and discharge energy use.
The OCS Ozone Approach
At OCS Ozone, we design water recovery systems across sectors ranging from food processing facilities to dairy and cheese producers. For every project, we carry out pilot testing and cycle-count optimisation specific to the product type and the facility's water profile.
If you would like to reduce water consumption and wastewater volume at your facility, get in touch for a free technical assessment.