According to the report by an environmental organization Greenpeace, UK plastic waste has been found dumped in Turkey.  The environmental campaigners are calling on the government to ‘take control of its waste problem.

Greenpeace’s Trashed report said that British plastic has been found dumped and burned across southern Turkey. The organization told that investigators documented piles of plastic waste dumped illegally by the roadside, in fields, or spilling into waterways and floating downstream in 10 sites dotted around the Adana province.

Plastic from the UK was found with all the evidence of packaging and bags from top supermarkets and retailers. Among items found there, the packaging was COVID-19 antigen test, which meant the waste was less than a year old, Greenpeace said.

Nihan Temiz Atas, Greenpeace Mediterranean biodiversity projects leader said that “As this new evidence shows, plastic waste coming from the UK to Turkey is an environmental threat, not an economic opportunity.

“Uncontrolled imports of plastic waste do nothing but increase the problems existing in Turkey’s own recycling system. “Around 241 truckloads of plastic waste come to Turkey every day from across Europe and it overwhelms us.”

“As far as we can see from the data and the field, we continue to be Europe’s largest plastic waste dump,” she added.