Adana, in the south of Turkey, was once famous for its citrus orchards. Now it is known for its fields full of garbage imported from Europe. Most of the time, this plastic waste is not recycled as promised – but burned or dumped along the roadside.
İzzettin Akman, who has a citrus orchard in Küçükçıldırım neighborhood, lives near one of these dump sites.
“They are constantly burning the waste. We are breathing in all the smoke. We cannot even open the window because of the smell,” he told Inside Turkey.
When the Turkish government banned the import of polyethylene, which constitutes 75 percent of plastic waste, Akman thought his worst days were over.
The ban was announced on 18 May and entered into force on 2 July. Yet just eight days later, after intensive lobbying from representatives of the Turkish plastic industry, the ban was lifted and replaced with a new set of regulations.
“First, it was banned. Then, the ban was lifted. It seems that we need garbage from the outside again as if we do not have it here [in Turkey],” Akman said.
According to Greenpeace Mediterranean, plastic waste imports of Turkey increased by 196 times between 2004 and 2020. The most drastic increase occurred after 2017, when China banned plastic waste imports.
Eurostat states that European Union exports of waste to China reached a peak in 2009, at 10.1 million tons. In 2020 only 0.6 million tons were exported to China, with Turkey taking up some of the remainder.
In 2020, Turkey imported 659,960 tons of plastic waste from EU countries and the UK, making it Europe’s top destination for the material.
When it was reported in Turkish media that the waste is not recycled but dumped at the roadsides and stream beds in Adana, it sparked a public backlash. More than 180,000 people signed a petition organised by Greenpeace, demanding a ban on the import of plastic waste.
Akman said the garbage has been dumped in large quantities for about five years. He and his friends have complained to the municipality about the situation but say they have not received a response.
“At first, I thought the garbage belonged to Turkey. I did not know it was coming from abroad,” he said.
“How could we know that the garbage belongs to England, Germany, Switzerland, and Poland? Can garbage come from that far?”
Right now, these dumpsites are full of plastic bags from European supermarkets such as Tesco, Asda, the Co-op, Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, and Marks & Spencer. There are also plastic bottles branded with the logos of Pepsi, Coca Cola, and Fanta.
Most of the waste consists of non-recyclable products. It means they are exported illegally, by being mislabeled.
Sedat Gündoğdu, an associate professor at Çukurova University who researches plastic waste, told Inside Turkey that this sort of cheating was a significant problem with polyethylene, a commonly-used material.
Polyethylene exists in many plastic products from packaging to grocery bags. “Most garbage was brought to Turkey under this label. They probably realized that this situation [monitoring for polyethylene] was uncontrollable when they decided to ban it,” he said.
Between 18 May and 6 July, representatives of the plastic industry held several meetings with ministers. As a result, the government lifted the outright ban on polyethylene and introduced a new law that carried stricter regulations than before for recycling companies.
One of the measures in the new law is that all 1,350 recycling companies operating in Turkey will have their licenses reviewed. The companies will have to show they have the necessary equipment for more environment-friendly recycling.
A Mobile Waste Tracking system is also being introduced. This will enable waste to be tracked with a chip system, from port to recycling plant.
The latest effort to regulate waste is not the first. On 1 January, partial regulation was introduced to limit the import of non-recyclable materials. According to an investigation by the UK Environment Agency, this practice increased the proportion of false labelling by exporters.
“Set as many restrictions as you want. This issue won’t be resolved unless they ban it [plastic imports] completely,” Gündoğdu said.
Sindy Yılmaz, who lives within 400 meters of one of the dumpsites in Karahan neighborhood, has been fighting against plastic waste for the last three years.
“When they brought in regulations in January, garbage was still being dumped here. I talked to Mersin Port [the main entry point for waste in Adana province] and asked why they allowed these products to arrive. The people there did not even know about the ban. They said that no such information was given to them,” she told Inside Turkey.
The problem is not limited to the burning of waste by the roadside. Waste disposal companies are burning plastic “accidentally” inside the recycling plants, too.
“Many of these materials are not recycled. They burn them to get rid of huge amounts of waste. Fires break out in factories almost every three days. Most of them are deliberately set. [But] even if it is an accident, failure to take precautions shows an ulterior motive,” Gündoğdu said.
A report by the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), shows plastic recycling generates high volumes of hazardous waste.
According to the report, mechanical and chemical plastic schemes generate dangerous dioxin emissions, produce crude, contaminated hydrocarbon fuels, and consume a vast amount of energy.
“Recycling will have very little impact on a growing, worldwide plastic pollution problem and will increase exposure to toxic chemicals in the communities where they are located,” the report states.
“Europe knows that recycling is a myth,” Gündoğdu said. “It is costly and creates many other problems. That is why they ship to countries like Turkey and Malaysia, where there is weak regulation. There is no solution other than not producing at all. We did a hell of a job to discover plastic. Now we have to think about how to get rid of it.”
IPEN’s report finds that approximately 8,300 million tons of plastic have been produced since the 1950s, and three-quarters of it has become waste. “Unless current practices change, 108 million tons of plastic waste will be landfilled, dumped, or openly burned in 2050, mainly in low-income countries,” it warns. It is already happening in Turkey.
“I feel more and more poisoned every day,” Yılmaz said. She described a night when she was awake because of the smoke.
“Adana summers are too hot. That is why we open the windows at night and sleep like that. One night I opened my eyes; my head was going to burst with pain. I realised the smoke was indoors. We were in the same room with my newborn babies and my husband. I woke them up quickly. It cannot continue like this.”
Akman thinks that plastic pollution is not only affecting him but also the whole ecosystem.
“They throw garbage next to wetlands. Frogs and fish live here. Dogs and bees drink from here. Let alone drinking, you can’t even smell it right now. We also water our gardens through this channel. Soil fertility decreases,” he said.
“They’re all selfish people trying to fill their own pockets. No one cares about my health. If they had thought about it, they wouldn’t have come here and dumped this waste.”