Liar, liar, plastic on fire: Turkish recyclers discovered arsoning facilities to destroy waste

10 Jan 2022 --- Recycling companies throughout Turkey are intentionally burning down their facilities as a means of cheaply destroying hazardous packaging waste, according to Microplastic Research Group (MRG), a team of scientists who study pollution and waste crime in the country. 

Dr. Sedat Gündoğdu, chief scientist of the group, tells PackagingInsights his team has tracked hundreds of fires through open sources in the past six years. 

“The idea is to show the primitivity of the recycling sector. Facility fires are a way of illegally disposing of plastics and similar materials that are not suitable for recycling or contaminated,” he explains. 

Since 2016, the group has recorded at least 250 facility fires, with two new incidents occurring just this morning. The blazes have caused severe injury and possible death to workers – many of them undocumented Afghan or Syrian immigrants living on-site.

“I think most of the fires were started intentionally,” says Gündoğdu. “The fact that most of the fires occur at night and in storage areas strengthens the possibility of intent. Moreover, some of my connections within the industry affirm the issue of intentional fire starting is a well-known tactic.” 

Recycling insurance fraud 
The use of arson by recycling companies has been under international investigation for some time. Interpol released a report in 2020 noting a sharp increase in intentional waste fires globally. 

MRG’s research highlights this trend in Turkey, where cases have almost doubled every year since 2018, with 121 incidents recorded in 2021. Some facilities experience fires three or four times a year, but waste organizations deny foul play.An interactive map tracking recycling facility waste fires throughout Turkey.

Interpol’s report asserts there is a clear financial incentive, however. Besides avoiding processing and recycling costs, companies can fraudulently claim insurance after staging a fire. 

In the Netherlands, where several incidents of suspicious fires were also recorded, government authorities worked with insurance companies to change payment policies by no longer covering outdoor storage fires. 

Dutch authorities then observed a clear drop in the number of fires at recycling plants immediately following this policy change. “This case shows that a part of the increase in waste fire is almost certainly due to deliberate acts,” says Interpol. 

Bigger killer than COVID-19
Gökhan Kam, a Turkish journalist who has been following the case, tells PackagingInsights authorities have issued a number of inspections and fines against illegal facilities, but “the inspections carried out are still very insufficient.” 

He also asserts most of the facilities do not have insurance and are merely trying to get rid of waste as cheaply as possible. However, the environmental and human cost is enormous, he says. 

“Afghan or Syrian immigrants work in many recycling facilities in Turkey because they are cheap labor. Most of them work unofficially and without any social insurance. Some of them stay in recycling facilities as they have no other place to stay.”

“Since most immigrants are employed illegally and informally, it is difficult to obtain precise and clear information about the deaths. However, we know that there are injuries during the fires, and there is a possibility that they died in such fires. This requires a forensic investigation,” Kam continues. Austrian plastic packaging seen outside a burned out facility in Turkey.

“All living things in the surrounding environment are harmed by the toxic gases emitted by the fires. There are agricultural fields near the burned places. Toxic gases precipitate on the agricultural production areas in this region, damaging the areas and the crops grown here.”

A study released last year in Environmental Research found fine particle pollution from fossil fuel burning killed around 8.7 million people globally in 2018 alone, indicating waste burning of this kind is far more deadly than pandemics like COVID-19.

Waste colonialism 
The phenomenon of outright arson across recycling facilities in Turkey, as alleged by Gündoğdu, adds another layer to what he calls “waste colonialism.”

Western packaging is sent abroad under the guise of recycling schemes and then either dumped or burned by local companies to save money at the expense of the environment and local people. 

In the last 16 years, plastic waste imported from Europe to Turkey has increased by 196 times, says Kam. Usually, importers cannot send imported waste directly to the incinerators because it is illegal. However, they can send processed waste generated during recycling. Imported western plastic waste is mostly being burned in the open air illegally.

“Most of the facilities in Turkey do not meet any standards and operate illegally. If it complies with the criteria, such large fires will not occur. To prevent fires, companies need to ensure the facilities they use comply with fire standards,” says Kam. 

Waste-to-energy debate
Much of the waste destroyed in these suspicious Turkish fires is Western F&B packaging, explains Gündoğdu. MRG’s research, along with Interpol, raises two recurring industry issues: waste exportation and incineration. 

Toxins emitted by waste fires are causing pandemic-like levels of disease and death.While many of the world’s largest FMCG companies defend these practices as a safe method for developing a circular economy, which provides labor for poorer global regions, evidence is mounting that pollution and degradation are the usual outcomes. 

Last year, PackagingInsights spoke with activists from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and Zero Waste Alliance, who stressed that “waste-to-energy” practices in less developed nations are drastically raising carbon emissions and lending packaging manufacturers an excuse to continue mass-producing single-use plastics. 

Poorer governments in regions like South East Asia have little option but to allow incineration practices in desperate attempts to avoid marine pollution and landfill. 

Policymakers and industry are seeking to address the problem. Last year, UK recycling giant Viridor called for a blanket ban on all plastic waste exports. The EU’s Green Deal will also see more resources spent on controlling waste trafficking. 

However, policymakers in Turkey continue to allow mass imports of plastic waste. Last year, the government announced a ban on PET, LDPE, and HDPE imports. However, the decision was quickly reversed for PET – something Greenpeace says was due to industry lobbying pressure. 

By Louis Gore-Langton