The British trash doesn't bother us

One of England's most prestigious newspapers, The Guardian, published an article about Turkey the other day. The article, written in the form of a commentary piece, described how British trash is polluting Turkey. In other words, foreigners were thinking about us more than we think about ourselves, writing about how Turkey has been turned into a trash heap. 

Except for one or two newspapers in the Turkish press, the news did not receive the attention it deserved. I wish we cared as much as the foreigners do about the danger our country is facing as it heads toward becoming the world's largest landfill!

The British newspaper announced the news with a striking headline: "Turkey said it would be a ‘zero waste’ country. Instead, it has become Europe’s dumping ground..."

So, what is this trash issue? 

The Guardian reported that Turkey has become the primary trash hub for Europe, especially after China stopped importing waste from the continent. Yet, in 2017, a project personally announced by Emine Erdoğan, the wife of President Erdoğan, which aimed to transform Turkey into a "zero waste" country within the next 15 years, was seen as a very important step. However, that same year, in 2017, China stopped collecting waste. 

Turkey's ordeal with trash was horrific. According to reports from 2010, Turkey was throwing away 35 million euros every year, and a large portion of this was plastic waste. Then, whatever happened, happened; not even a year after Erdoğan launched the Zero Waste Project, more than 200,000 tons of plastic waste were sent to Turkey. 

Three years after the announcement of the Zero Waste Project, more than 750,000 tons of old plastic were directed from all over Europe to Anatolia, making Turkey the largest importer of plastic waste on the planet. These figures were revealed by the British themselves, who sent the trash.

As Turkey turned into a giant landfill, a competition began among European activists and journalists. They started to investigate whether recycling plans were actually being implemented, curious about the fate of the trash sorted in their own countries. They placed GPS chips in empty laundry detergent or dishwasher soap bottles and tracked their trash. And the GPS devices brought them to Turkey. The trash wasn't even being sorted as it was sent to Turkey!

Adana, in particular, had become Europe's largest landfill. As of now, Turkey is the country that imports the most trash from Europe. Turkey is in first place with 12 million tons. Turkey is followed by India, Egypt, Norway, and Switzerland. 

The British point out that there is a lot of money in this business and that accepting trash is a major source of economic income. While we forget to sweep the front of our own neighborhood, the foreigners are shouting, "Turkey will destroy its natural resources..."

Of course, we didn't stop; we discovered how clever it would be to make Turkey a "global petrochemical hub" with the "Ceyhan mega petrochemical industrial zone" project. We predicted that it would reduce the country's dependence on imported polyethylene and thus free up Turkish capital to fight climate change in the long run, but we overlooked the fact that with this project, Adana would no longer just receive trash, but would build its future economy around it.

Even the British, who are looking for a place to dump their trash, expressed their sadness that Turkey's natural resources, rivers, and agricultural lands are being destroyed by this project. Even though they pay us money so that we take the trash they are trying to get rid of...

Of course, we are not just being tested with plastic waste and household trash!

Along with Europe's trash, its mafia is also being sent to Turkey, as well as those who are of no use in Syria or Afghanistan... Every day, people with characters so rotten they wouldn't even be thrown in the trash are killing women and raping children. People are stabbing each other.

Our mentality has turned into trash. The British or German trash doesn't bother us, does it...