Who is liable for our plastic waste?

Black smoke drifts over the waste incinerators of Istanbul, Adana and Mersin — smoke that makes the people exposed to it ill and poisons the environment and animals. This smoke, produced by the burning of plastic, is also due to the increase in the export of plastic waste from European countries to Turkey.

For 25 years, China was the main buyer of European plastic waste. This ended when the Chinese government announced in 2018 that it would no longer import plastic waste in the future. When other countries like Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand followed suit, Europe found a new dumping ground in Turkey.