UK plastic ‘recycling’ sent to Turkey found dumped, burned or clogging ocean says Greenpeace

Turkey has become the latest country hit by UK plastic waste where rubbish is being illegally dumped by roads and spilling into waterways, says Greenpeace.

Almost 40% or 210,000 tonnes of the UK’s plastic waste exports were sent to Turkey last year, according to the environmental charity.

Investigators warn that the country is becoming Europe’s “largest plastic waste dump” after going from a minor player in the global waste trade to what is effectively ‘the new China’ in just five years.

Fields are suffocating in plastic ‘recycling’ from top retail brands more than 1,800 miles away from the supermarkets where they were sold.

Around 241 truckloads of European plastic waste hit Turkey every day and the country is becoming overwhelmed.

Rubbish was also discovered floating downstream throughout the Adana province in Turkey.

Findings indicate that the waste was less than a year old, with packaging for a Covid-19 antigen test found among bags of plastic.

UK waste was found at all 10 sites investigated in southern Turkey as part of the Greenpeace report.

It claims the UK is the second biggest user of plastic waste per person in the world, behind the US, with its supermarkets generating 900,000 tonnes of plastic packaging every year.

More than half of the plastic packaging the UK government claims is recycled is sent abroad, mostly to countries without the infrastructure to handle it where it is dumped or illegally burned.

MPs claim all exported plastic gets recycled, but in reality what happens to it is unknown because nobody bothers to check.

Now campaigners are calling on the government to “take control” of the problem amid the shocking reveal.

Nihan Temiz Atas, biodiversity projects lead from Greenpeace Mediterranean, based in Turkey, said: “As this new evidence shows, plastic waste coming from the UK to Turkey is an environmental threat not an economic opportunity.

“Uncontrolled imports of plastic waste do nothing but increase the problems existing in Turkey‘s own recycling system.

“As far as we can see from the data and the field, we continue to be Europe’s largest plastic waste dump.”

Nina Schrank, senior plastics campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said overproduction is at the heart of the problem.

She added: “The government needs to take control of this problem. They can start by banning plastic waste exports and reducing single-use plastic by 50% by 2025.

“This would not only allow the UK to end waste exports, but would also mean less plastic going into incineration and landfill.”

Although the UK is by far the largest exporter of plastic waste to Turkey, it has not been the only country to take advantage of the country’s open attitude to plastic waste.

European Union member states also sent 20 times more plastic waste to Turkey last year compared to 2016.

The UK and EU members have rules that are meant to prevent the export of plastic waste unless it is destined to be recycled.

Yet Turkey’s official recovery rate for municipal waste – just 12% in 2018 – is the lowest of any Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Interpol say the influx of European plastic waste has contributed to a surge in waste crime.

A spokesperson for the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We are clear that the UK should handle more of its waste at home, and that’s why we are committed to banning the export of plastic waste to non-OECD countries and clamping down on illegal waste exports - including to countries such as Turkey - through tougher controls.

“The UK is a global leader in tackling plastic pollution and our proposals for extended producer responsibility for packaging, a plastic packaging tax and mandatory electronic waste tracking will boost recycling rates, reduce waste and cut crime.”

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