No More Bottles! Furious Waste Pickers Revolt
The Deposit Management System (DMS), implemented across Turkey as of July 1st with the aim of combating environmental pollution and establishing a sustainable recycling network, has garnered significant interest from the public. The incentive payment of 1 Turkish Lira per bottle has increased interest in the system day by day. However, this system has hit the earnings of paper collectors. Expressing their frustration, the paper collectors stated, 'What we used to collect in an hour, we now can't find in five days.'
The DOA application hit the paper collectors hard.
The DOA application, which commenced on July 1, was met with great enthusiasm by citizens. The incentive payment of 1 TL for each plastic bottle and packaging deposited into the machines has propelled interest in the system to its peak.
As the interest in the system persists, challenging days have begun for paper collectors. A compulsory shift has occurred in the business models of recycling workers who have been making a living for years by collecting paper and plastic on the streets.
Collectors, who now find it difficult to locate plastic bottles on the streets, have started to focus more on cardboard, nylon, and other recyclable materials in order to sustain their livelihoods.
Our daily earnings have plummeted from 1000 TL to 600 TL.
Sefer, a recycling worker who has been making a living from the waste he collects from the streets for years, explained how the new policy has impacted them. He stated that their daily earnings have dropped from 1000 TL to 600 TL and went on to say:
'This new policy has significantly affected our work. In the past, we could find at least 15 PET bottles each time we checked a garbage container. However, since the introduction of the DOA system, finding PET bottles has become nearly impossible. We were actually assisting municipalities and the environment by preventing the containers from overflowing. Now, due to this new situation, we are forced to automatically shift to different jobs. We were doing the same sorting that the machine does, using our own means and gathering it on a weekly basis. Since we collect cardboard, plastic, and nylon separately, there should be a place for us within this system. We're not trying to take anyone's livelihood, but we're at a loss about what to do. Our daily income has dropped from 1000 TL to 600 TL because we can't collect PET bottles. We used to have arrangements with buildings; they would gather the bottles and give them to us, and in return, we would buy them cleaning supplies or give them money. This process has now completely stopped.'
What they used to gather in an hour, now takes them five days to find.
Another street collector, Hasan, noted that finding plastic bottles has become almost impossible. He said, 'Under normal circumstances, we could gather a wheelbarrow full of plastic bottles in just an hour. Now, we've been roaming the streets for five days and still haven't managed to collect that many. We simply can't find any plastic bottles on the streets. Understandably, people are taking them to the machines themselves, which has significantly complicated our work.'
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