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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Karen McVeigh and Ayça Aldatmaz in Adana

UK plastic ‘waste colonialism’ found to be polluting Turkey’s farming heartland

An overhead shot of plastic containers, bottles and cartons ready for recycling
Plastic bottles and containers are seen in a domestic recycling bin in Manchester. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

High levels of microplastics and other plastic contamination have been discovered in a waterway close to a major recycling hub in Turkey supplied with plastic waste by British companies.

The polluted waterway, which floods into agricultural fields after heavy rain, feeds into a larger canal used for irrigating crops on the Çukurova plain, in the city of Adana, in the south of the country. It is one of the largest and most fertile agricultural basins in Turkey.

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