Turkey largest importer of waste from EU in 2020: Greenpeace

ISTANBUL

Turkey ranked first among countries importing waste from European Union countries in 2020, according to Greenpeace Mediterranean.

Turkey imported some 660,000 tons of plastic waste in 2020 from Europe, according to their data.

Launching a project with the motto “Don’t let Turkey become a plastic waste dump,” Greenpeace Mediterranean has urged Ankara to stop and ban the import.

“Turkey has a ‘Zero-Waste’ project. However, with these plastic waste imports, it will be impossible for the country to reach the target,” Nihan Temiz Ataş, the biodiversity project leader of Greenpeace Mediterranean, told Demirören News Agency on April 27.

Greenpeace says these imported wastes are being abandoned in nature. Footage have also shown plastics burning in the southern province of Adana in November 2020.

After Greenpeace’s project, the Urbanization and Environment Ministry tightened the quota for the imports, said Ataş. “It was a good step, but it is not enough. The country is growing to become the biggest plastic waste dump of Europe,” she added.

In 2019, Turkey imported around 582,000 tons of plastic waste from the EU.

“Around 241 truckloads of waste come to Turkey every day,” she said.