Turkey bans import of polymer waste after becoming Europe's top waste importer
Photo: Greenpeace
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The Ministry of Environment and Urbanization has imposed new restrictions on plastic waste imports as part of the "zero waste imports" target it announced in December.
The import of wastes in the ethylene polymer group has been banned, according to a ministry notification.
Greenpeace Mediterranean said it was a "victory" and an important step towards the "zero waste" target.
Turkey has become one of the largest plastic waste importers from Europe as its waste import from the continent has increased 196 times in the last 16 years, according to a previous Greenpeace report.
It was Europe's top plastic waste importer in the last two years, according to Eurostat figures.
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Greenpeace Mediterranean Biodiversity Projects Lead Nihan Temiz-Ataş said the banned substance made up 74 percent of Turkey's plastic waste import in 2020, citing data from Eurostat and the UK Office for National Statistics.
"In our recent investigation, we saw that England's non-recyclable wastes were dumped and even burned in Adana," she said, referring to a 2020 investigation by Greenpeace Mediterranean.
Greenpeace found last month that the situation in Adana did not change. Taking action after Greenpeace's revelation, the ministry imposed penalties on several recycling companies.
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"We hope that, with increasing control mechanisms and a full ban on plastic waste imports, Turkey will become an exemplary country in the world by managing its own waste well," Temiz-Ataş noted.
In August 2020, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization reduced the plastic waste import quota for recycling companies from 80 percent to 50 percent, which meant the companies had to collect at least half of the waste to be recycled from within the country.
Early in this year, the ministry banned the import of plastic waste coded "mixed."
Turkey's waste importHere are some figures on Turkey's plastic waste imports compiled by Greenpeace Mediterranean from Eurostat and UK Office for National Statistics.: • Turkey imported 659,960 tons of plastic waste from the EU countries and the UK in 2020, up by 13 percent from the previous year. Some 241 truckloads of plastic waste came to Turkey from those countries every day. • In 2019, Turkey imported 582,296 tons of plastic waste from the EU countries and the UK. • Twenty-eight percent of Europe's plastic waste exports was to Turkey in 2020. • Turkey's plastic waste imports increased by 196 times between 2004 and 2020. • In 2020, the top five countries that sent the most plastic waste to Turkey were the UK (209,642 tons), Belgium (137,071 tons), Germany (136,083 tons), the Netherlands (49,496 tons) and Slovenia (24,884 tons). |
(TP/VK)