On a chilly evening in late 2016, a few miles from Turkey’s Adana, a Kurdish farmer named İzzettin Akman witnessed a catastrophe. A construction truck dumped garbage near his citrus groves, triggering a blaze that spread across 50 acres of land. Amidst the ashes, Akman found numerous items bearing foreign labels, not Turkish or Kurdish. This incident foreshadowed a larger environmental issue that was unfolding.

In the 1940s, plastic was marketed as a material that would disappear once used. Its primary advantages were low production costs and convenience. However, these same attributes have led to a significant environmental problem. Plastic waste poses a serious threat to the environment due to its indestructibility and the contaminants it releases as it degrades.

The concept of plastic recycling gained traction in the 1980s, but it soon became evident that it was not the solution it was marketed to be. Most plastics cannot be recycled into new products; instead, they typically end up in landfills or are burned, releasing harmful chemicals. The plastic industry’s recycling efforts were also economically unsustainable, as producing new plastic was cheaper than recycling old plastic.

In 2017, Turkish First Lady Emine Erdoğan announced the Zero Waste Project, aiming to make Turkey a zero-waste nation by 2032. However, this ambitious goal quickly faced a significant challenge when China banned the import of plastic waste in 2018, leaving countries like the UK and the EU with a disposal problem.

The global waste trade shifted, with Europe’s plastic waste being redirected to Turkey. Within three years, Turkey became the world’s largest importer of plastic waste, receiving 750,000 tonnes annually. The situation was exacerbated by the UK’s struggles with recycling in the wake of Brexit. British waste brokers, overlapping legal gaps, and incentives led to the export of massive amounts of plastic waste to Turkey.

Akman’s experience was representative of the broader environmental crisis in south-eastern Turkey. Much of the imported plastic waste was either buried or burned, causing severe pollution. Local activists and journalists used GPS chips to track bottles and other items from recycling bins in the UK to industrial zones in Turkey, revealing the complex journey of plastic waste.

Local environmentalists used drones to monitor dumping sites, often finding massive piles of garbage each month. The impact on the land and local ecosystems was staggering, with plastic waste contaminating fields, polluting rivers, and harming wildlife. Moreover, the plastic’s chemicals suggested a hostile environment for ecosystems to recover.

In 2021, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched a new petrochemical plant in Adana, proposing it as a solution to Turkey’s reliance on imported polyethylene. This plan underscored the irony of turning the same land into a hub for plastic production, exacerbating the environmental crisis. The investment aimed for 3 billion pounds of plastic production annually, equivalent to 60 billion plastic water bottles.

The story of Akman’s farm and the broader waste crisis in Adana highlights the failure of recycling systems worldwide. It also exposes the complicity of global economies in diverting waste to less wealthy countries unable to handle it effectively. The situation underscores the urgent need for sustainable waste management practices and a move away from single-use plastic.

The incident on İzzettin Akman’s farm is a poignant illustration of how global environmental issues are interconnected. It also serves as a warning for the future of sustainable waste management practices. Taking responsibility for one’s waste and focusing on reducing plastic consumption are critical steps toward addressing these challenges.