Waste scandal hits Turkish town of Dilovası

ISTANBUL - Radikal

Nearly 1000 tons of industrial purification sludge has been found in Dilovası. DHA photo

The purification sludge contained cosmetic tubes, stamps belonging to firms, scales and order receipts. The municipal firms tracking the receipts reached three different companies whose authorities said they delivered the waste to an authorized recycler.

“The firms gave their purification sludge to recycling firms that have a license from the ministry. The job of those firms is to compress the mud and make them burn in cement plants or İZAYDAŞ in return for money,” said Mustafa Yılmaz, the director of Environment and Forest Directorate.

“The incident will be revealed when the recycling company is determined by [tracing] these receipts. It might take a week,” said Yılmaz, saying that Gov. Erhan Topaca is also investigating the issue.

Authorities are concerned that the purification sludge might be composed of poisonous elements that could mix with the soil with rain and water.