British and German plastic found on Turkish beaches, Greenpeace says
The organization published a report on Monday which said rubbish from German supermarkets, such as Lidl, Aldi, EDEKA and REWE, as well as packaging from British brands Heinz, Flora and Fairy were photographed on Turkish land.
The trash was found by the roadside, in fields or spilling into waterways and floating downstream in 10 sites, the report added.
Packaging for a Covid-19 antigen test was also found among bags of British plastic, suggesting the waste is less than a year old.
“As this new evidence shows, plastic waste coming from Europe to Turkey is an environmental threat not an economic opportunity,” Nihan Temiz Atas, biodiversity projects leader from Greenpeace Mediterranean, said.
“Uncontrolled imports of plastic waste do nothing but increase the problems existing in Turkey’s own recycling system. Around 241 truckloads of plastic waste come to Turkey every day from across Europe and it overwhelms us.
As far as we can see from the data and the field, we continue to be Europe’s largest plastic waste dump.”
The British government said in a statement it was “clamping down” on illegal waste exports.
GNA
