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Notification informing firms buying paper from paper works to be fined will have hundreds of thousands of recycling workers out of their job.
Ministry of Environment and Urbanism stated on the basis of regulations in 2011 that the companies buying paper from paper collectors will be fined for 45,000 euros (140,000 Turkish Lira).
Some firms have stopped buying paper upon the notification, the paper collectors are worried even though some others still continue.
He has been sorting through garbage of Cihangir for 32 years
O.Ö. collecting waste in Cihangir, İstanbul is one of them.
42-year-old O.Ö. is from Niğde. His father is too paper collector. They have come to Cihangir from Niğde as he was 10 years old. As of that day, he collects paper, plastic, junk, metal from trashes, houses, and offices.
He collects 200 kilos of waste a day but 150 kilos of them is paper because it is hard to find junk and it is heavy.
His daily earning from paper is 16 euros.
His family lives in Niğde, he lives in a storehouse
His four kids and wife live in Niğde, and he lives in a storehouse in Tophane with his five friends.
He sends 330 euros to his family per month, and he lives with whatever is left for him. He goes to his hometown in every three months to fulfill his longing.
He works from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The papers are being sold to a firm in Bayrampaşa.
They could sell the papers to any firm they want before 2011 but when municipalities have started to collect paper in 2011, they can sell it only firms contracted with municipality. He didn’t have any material loss in this regard.
No one can do this job other than us
He complains about sharing his profit with Syrian refugees.
“Earlier, everyone had certain neighborhoods and streets. No one would enter the others’ zone. But now with the Syrians’ coming, our profit has decreased. They indeed undercut”.
And now, he is afraid of losing his job for good.
“I am 42 years old, I am already old now and have no insurance. We don’t know any other work to do. What are we going to do if I can’t collect paper? We earn our living, contribute to state’s economy, and protects forests. No one can do this job other than us. The state cannot get through collecting this garbage. Municipality comes only once a week at certain hours, but we collect at any time, in anywhere”.
There are 500,000 waste workers
President of Recycling Workers Association, Dinçer Mendillioğlu stated that there are at least 500,000 paper collectors in Turkey, and over 2 million people along with their families will be affected by this decision.
“The Regulation on Packaging Waste enacted in August, 2011 prohibits unlicensed people to collect waste, and prohibits those not having license to collect and sort through to purchase. Thus, a ban has been imposed on both sides, however it hasn’t been exercised till now. Now it is started to be exercised. There are 950 licensed firms at the moment, they can employ 9,500 people in case each employs 10 people. Nevertheless, there are as many as 500,000 paper collectors now. What will these people do?”
Without fear of city police, police
Mendillioğlu to meet with Ministry of Environment and Urbanism today (January 25) said they preparing a project for 2,500 waste workers within the borders of Çankaya Municipality.
“Paper collection qualifies as wild work form. There are methods in the world to encourage it. We’ve prepared a project. We want to establish a system integrated with the system. The workers dressed as cleaning workers, having GPRS on their vehicles, in the neighborhoods, housing estates shopping malls set by contracted firms in Çankaya, will get the papers from their sources. They will take them to the firms. They will not have to fear city police or police. Their insurances will be paid too. If this succeeds, then it will be exemplary to all of the paper collectors”. (NV/TK)
