Hundreds of containers of German trash sent to Turkey for recycling are 'missing'

Duvar English

A recycling firm that the German state commissioned to export their trash turned out to be non-existent, rendering hundreds of containers of waste to go missing in Turkey, the German magazine WirtschaftsWoche reported on May 6. 

A facility owned by Turkish company 2B Plast in Düzce had been reported to be a state-of-the-art recycling center that could recycle plastic packaging, plastic water bottles and even plastic kitchen containers. 

A German inspector in charge of regulating the recycling of waste from Germany found out that the recycling center had been closed for a while only two months ago.

"2B Plast didn't report any of the information about the closure, which they should have as the contractor," the inspector reportedly said. 

Germany only annulled 2B Plast's recycling certificate at the end of April, after more than 400 containers of trash had already been exported to Turkey.

Germany's total waste exports fell by eight percent in 2020 to 136,000 tons of waste exported, but their exports to Turkey still reportedly doubled, sending at least 20,000 tons of trash to 2B Plast's "recycling facility."

The logistics firm in charge of transporting German waste to Turkey, BRS Logistics, currently has 141 containers of waste waiting in Turkish ports, as they have been unable to deliver the containers to the recycling facility. 

Unpaid by 2B Plast, BRS is unable to move the waste in any direction, and instead is awaiting Turkish authorities to order for the return of the waste to Germany. 

Germany's Central Agency Packaging Register (ZSVR) said that they would launch an investigation into the case of 2B Plast and that they would end "suspicious venues of trash trade."