Evaluation of cheese enterprises in the perspective of circular economy

From past to present, all living things on earth have encountered huge and diverse problems (natural events, climate crises, famine, wars, economic crises, etc.). It can be seen that all these problems are actually chained together. In order to prevent or slow down these problems, countries around the world have started to organize and implement "sustainable development" programs. Both the environment and nature are protected through the "sustainable development" operation, whose main aim is to preserve and develop natural resources. Based on the sustainable development movement, economic approach models such as bioeconomy, blue economy, green economy and circular economy have emerged. The "circular economy" model constitutes one of the main subjects of our study, and throughout the study, the research on the circular economy model, its definitions, how it came to be, how it is implemented, its benefits and advantages are examined and explained in detail. As a result of the examinations, it is seen that the circular economy model is a production model in which resources are used more consciously, product life is extended and all materials are reused without producing waste. In the study, the circular economy model was compared with the current economic model, the linear economy model, and the features of both were explained. As a result of the examination, it was seen that the "take-make-dispose" operation, which is a linear economy model, creates a very serious amount of waste and causes both pollution of nature and depletion of resources, while on the other hand, with the circular economy model, the waste rates are reduced and nature is protected from pollution by recycling the products used. It has been observed that resources are protected and resources are used consciously. Another part of the study includes a literature review consisting of numerous researches and definitions on circular economy. Just as all sectors and businesses are affected by the circular economy, the circular economy is also affected by these sectors and businesses. One of the businesses that interact with the circular economy is whey businesses. In this study, the benefits of whey when processed, as well as the serious risks it poses to nature and living things when it is dumped into the environment as garbage without any processing, were also examined. The other main subject of our study is "Evaluation of Cheese Enterprises in the Context of Circular Economy". In order to carry out this part of the study, cheese enterprises in the Ardahan and Kars regions were first entered and face-to-face surveys were conducted with 56 operators. In the surveys, questions were asked about business owners' education, family, employees, income and workplace, as well as their environmental awareness and evaluation of whey waste. Then, the data obtained from the 56 surveys were analyzed statistically with the help of "Kir-Square test (cross table)" and "Binary Logistic Regression Analysis" and as a result of these analyses, the answers given by the operators and the results of whey (Whey) were examined in detail and interpreted in tables.