According to a recent report by Greenpeace, around 40% of the plastic waste generated by England was sent to Turkey through illegal means and disposed of by burning it.

The report claims that England sent 210k tons of plastic waste to Turkey. The authors of the report have stated that rather than the waste being recycled, the waste was distributed in farmlands and roads and disposed of through burning.

Researchers have analysed 10 waste areas in Adana (a city in Turkey) and found plastic packaging belonging to major UK supermarkets such as Tesco, Asda, Co-op, Aldi, Sainsbury's, Lidland and Marks & Spencer. Food packaging and plastic bags with the supermarket’s logos were identified amongst the dumping ground.

According to the report there were also traces of UK plastic waste discovered along the Turkish mediterranean coastline. Amongst the waste, antibody tests for coronavirus produced by England were also found, which showed that the waste could not be older than a year.

The report expressed warnings that Turkey might become Europe’s plastic waste land.

“EUROPE’S LARGEST PLASTIC DUMP”

The report showed that Turkey has exported 12k tons of plastic waste from the UK in 2016. However, in 2020 this amount has risen by 18 folds which equated to 40% of the total plastic waste generated by UK.

EU countries have also increased the amount of plastic waste they sent to Turkey since 2016. The amount of plastic waste sent by EU has increased by 20% since 2016.

Poland, Malaysia and Turkey have received the largest waste in 2020. (EVRENSEL DAILY)