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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Daniel Dylan Wray

‘A broken system full of criminality and death’: the podcast lifting the lid on what happens to the UK’s rubbish

Samim, Hayat and Khalid at the recycling factory where they work in Istanbul. The brightly lit storage closet on the left acts as a bedroom.
Samim, Hayat and Khalid at the recycling factory where they work in Istanbul. The brightly lit storage closet on the left acts as a bedroom. Photograph: Adnan Khan/Via Afghan refugees

On his way to a remote industrial zone at the edge of Istanbul, Adnan Khan compares it to something out of Mad Max. Packs of wild dogs roam around desolate wastelands; toxic chemicals spill out into the street, with corrugated metal sheets and “slapdash factories” scattered around. “It’s like a shantytown,” he says.

However, once he sets foot inside some of these factories, he reaches for a different cinematic comparison. This time he’s thinking of the torture-horror film Saw, as he witnesses Afghan refugees working and living in conditions that he says fit the UN definition of modern-day slavery.

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