While a suspension would be in line with EU rules on the shipment of waste, it would also jeopardize the bloc’s most important market for trash. Last year, Turkey received a third of the EU’s exported plastic waste.
The Commission assessment, dated Sept. 1 and obtained by POLITICO, reported a long list of concerns over Turkey’s treatment of EU waste, including the fact that only around 10% of plastic waste is recycled in the country, while the majority goes to landfills, is mismanaged or leaks into the environment.
The Commission official said the report pointed to “several instances” of plastic waste mismanagement, generating “serious pollution problems.”
Despite evidence of practices that could breach EU rules, the report said the Commission would hold off on suspending exports and instead engage with the Turkish authorities on these concerns.
The bloc’s Waste Shipment Regulation — which restricts exports of certain types of EU waste to third countries to curb pollution — says the EU can stop the export of waste to OECD countries that fail to show the waste is managed in an “environmentally sound manner.”
The law specifically requires the Commission to assess whether OECD countries importing large volumes of plastic waste are managing it without causing significant environmental or health damage.