Regulation changed: Cengiz Holding granted permission to dump waste into the sea
Eti Bakır, a subsidiary of Cengiz Holding, has been granted permission to discharge waste onto the seabed at its facility in Tekkeköy, Samsun. With the amendment made to the Water Pollution Control Regulation, the path was cleared for 'non-hazardous inorganic waste' to be dumped into areas deeper than 250 meters via pipeline.
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A regulation change has been made in the Tekkeköy district of Samsun that paves the way for waste from the acid and copper storage facilities of Eti Bakır, a subsidiary of Cengiz Holding, to be released into the sea. The regulation officially entered into force with the Regulation on Amending the Water Pollution Control Regulation published in the Official Gazette.
According to the report in Cumhuriyet, the new regulation permits the discharge of "non-hazardous inorganic waste" onto the seabed via pipeline and its use for carbon storage purposes in marine areas exceeding 250 meters in depth. Following this decision, allegations that Eti Bakır will dispose of its waste by directing it to the seabed have sparked serious public debate.
Kübra Küçük, Head of the Samsun Branch of the Chamber of Environmental Engineers, reacted to the regulation, stating, "Storing carbon on the seabed under the pretext of greenhouse gas capture is a practice rejected by the environmental engineering discipline. Irreversible risks such as long-term ocean acidification, loss of benthic life, and carbon leakage have been ignored. These regulations are severe interventions against Turkey's water resources with unknown consequences."