The European Union will continue allowing large-scale plastic waste exports to Türkiye despite concerns over recycling rates, environmental damage and the risk of illegal waste trafficking.
A European Commission assessment dated 1 September found shortcomings in Türkiye’s handling of imported plastic waste, including limited information on how shipments are managed and uncertainty over the implementation and enforcement of EU rules.
However, Brussels concluded that exports could continue, pointing to improvements in Türkiye’s legal framework and environmental enforcement.
Türkiye remains the EU’s largest external destination for waste. In 2025, it imported around 510,000 tonnes of plastic waste from the bloc, representing about 70 per cent of EU plastic waste exports to OECD countries and 36 per cent of its total plastic waste exports, according to the assessment reported by the POLITICO media outlet.
Stakeholders consulted by the Commission estimated that only around 10 per cent of plastic waste sent to Türkiye is recycled.
They said much of the remaining material ends up in landfill, is poorly managed or enters the environment, conditions that can provide grounds for suspending exports under the EU’s Waste Shipment Regulation.
Despite identifying what it described as serious problems linked to domestic and imported plastic waste, the Commission found that Türkiye had strengthened its waste-management legislation and that its framework broadly aligned with international and EU standards.
Under the revised Waste Shipment Regulation, which began applying in stages in May 2026, plastic waste exports are subject to tighter controls. The Commission is required to monitor shipments to OECD countries and can ultimately suspend exports where waste is not being managed in an environmentally sound way.
The Commission's decision comes against a wider backdrop of concerns over Europe’s plastic waste trade with Türkiye.
A 2025 report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, or GI-TOC, found that Türkiye had become Europe’s main destination for exported plastic waste following tighter import restrictions in parts of Asia from 2018 onwards.
The investigation alleged that contaminated and mixed plastic was sometimes misclassified as recyclable material, allowing exporters to take advantage of regulatory gaps and weaknesses in enforcement.
It identified European exporters and waste brokers operating through countries including the UK, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and said complex subcontracting arrangements could make it difficult to establish responsibility for waste after it left its country of origin.
The GI-TOC investigation identified the areas of Adana, Mersin and Ambarlı as major entry and processing points in Türkiye for imported plastic waste.
It said Adana alone had handled more than 60 per cent of the country's plastic waste imports during the period examined.
Satellite imagery, customs information and field interviews cited in the report documented cases of open dumping, illegal burning and unsafe storage, including waste that investigators said was unsuitable for recycling.
The findings suggest that the problem is not limited to whether waste crosses borders legally, but also to what happens after it reaches its destination.
Some formally registered facilities examined by researchers were alleged to have failed to meet environmental or processing standards, while subcontracting and the mixing of different waste streams made the final destination of shipments harder to trace.
The GI-TOC report also warned that weaknesses in the waste trade could be exploited by criminal networks.
It documented allegations involving fraudulent recycling schemes, bribery, shell companies and the deliberate mislabelling of waste. Some cases examined by researchers were linked to Italian organised crime networks and to alleged fraud involving the UK’s Packaging Recovery Note system.
The investigation also found that digital platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp were being used to arrange waste transactions, creating additional difficulties for regulators trying to track buyers, sellers and intermediaries.
Researchers said companies could further obscure responsibility by subcontracting disposal operations, mixing waste categories or routing shipments through intermediaries.
The EU has introduced stronger rules intended to increase traceability and reduce illegal waste shipments.
Since 21 May 2026, plastic waste exports have been subject to a prior informed consent procedure, while the Digital Waste Shipment System has been introduced to improve electronic tracking and information-sharing between authorities.
From 21 November 2026, exports of plastic waste to non-OECD countries will be banned. Türkiye, however, is an OECD member and is therefore subject to a different system under which exports can continue while being monitored by the Commission.
From May 2027, EU exporters will also have to ensure that facilities receiving their waste undergo independent audits demonstrating that the material is being handled in an environmentally sound manner.
Environmental campaigners argue that the Commission should already be taking stronger action.
Lauren Weir of the Environmental Investigation Agency and Rethink Plastic alliance said the Commission’s own findings raised questions over whether sufficient evidence existed to show that waste was being managed safely.
Turkish environmental researcher Sedat Gündoğdu has also argued that the EU should suspend shipments rather than risk transferring the environmental consequences of European plastic consumption to Türkiye.
The Commission says its assessment identified both progress and remaining weaknesses and that it will continue working with Turkish authorities while monitoring developments.
Türkiye’s waste-management system is expected to be reassessed before 2028.
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