According to the new data announced by the European Statistics Office (Eurostat), Turkey was the country that bought the most plastic waste in Europe in 2020 after 2019. Environmentalists, who want a ban on plastic waste imports, continue their struggle to prevent Turkey from not having a plastic waste.
BURSA (İGFA) – Turkey, which is Europe’s plastic waste dump after the ban imposed by China. plastic waste imports increased 196 times in the last 16 years. These plastic wastes, which are not adequately controlled, pollute the seas and soil of Turkey. Greenpeace members initiated a petition to ban plastic waste imports and to prevent plastic waste in Turkey.
Greenpeace Biodiversity Projects Leader Nihan Temiz Ataş stated that they have reached more than 150 thousand signatures so far in the campaign they started in May 2020. He said that thanks to their support, they succeeded in bringing the issue to the agenda of Turkey by sending thousands of tweets to the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization with the tag # ÇöplükOlmasın. Stating that the Ministry did not remain silent on this situation, Ataş noted that companies reduced their waste import permit quotas from 80 percent to 50 percent, and then in January 2021, Environment and Urban Planning Minister Murat Kurum announced that their target was zero waste import.
