Street waste collectors work under precarious conditions in Turkey

In almost every street of Istanbul, it is possible to see paper collectors pulling their hulking carts or sorting paper and plastic waste at a trash dumpster. It is possible to see, but they are also invisible in the city…

Paper collectors work up to 14 hours a day. They sell a kilo of paper for 1 TL. Plastic is slightly more expensive than paper. It costs 2 or 2 liras and 30 cents. Paper collectors can make between 100 and 150 liras on average.

NO JOB IN SİVEREK

Ersin and Serhat Urfa came to Istanbul from Siverek to work. The two young men are relatives and work for their relatives. Aged 17 and 18, neither of them had a chance to receive formal education. They left Siverek because of the unemployment there. They say that young people leave the city to find job in big cities. Most of the paper collectors are from Siverek, Diyarbakir and are Afghan nationals.

“There is no factory, no production in Siverek. Where will you work? There are only grocery stores where you can earn 70 or 80 TL per day. And working hours are too many. At least sometimes we can even earn 200 liras per day if we collect papers in the streets. We work here for at least 13-14 hours, it is not easy. However, it is barely enough as the country has been hit by an economic crisis. Here we took a break, got some biscuits for lunch. A kilo of paper is not worth a biscuit. Everything is very expensive.” Ersin describes working conditions.

‘LIKE WE ARE NOT HUMAN’

Serhat says that it is very difficult to work, especially in cold weather. Because their shifts start around 16:00 in the evening and end in the morning the next day. They work during the coldest hours of the day in the winter months. Serhat adds that they sometimes light a fire to keep warm, but the police wouldn’t allow it: “It’s already cold. We light a fire with a few people, the police come and insult us like we are not humans. Not only the police, but people despise us when they see us working. I feel offended. It’s sad, but I’m trying to get used to it.”

‘NO ONE HAS MONEY!’

However, Ersin seems to be used to this situation or he doesn’t care. “I have to work to send money to my family, so I don’t care. I’ve been here for 3 months, I save money and send it to my family. Men in the family are always working, women and siblings at home. Here we stay in the barracks. I don’t care about anyone else. So far, I have saved 2 thousand lira and sent it to them. But since this crisis broke out, we can’t even find waste paper. I guess that people don’t even throw away garbage because they don’t buy anything. Nobody has money!”

‘IF YOU LOSE YOUR CART, YOU ARE IN TROUBLE’

“Our carts are not confiscated as before, of course, but municipalities collect waste paper themselves. I think that our job will be taken from us in a year. For example, it is forbidden to enter Acıbadem district on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If we enter, our carts are confiscated. A cart is sold at a price of between 500 and 750 liras. If you lose your cart, you’re in trouble!”

THEY EXPLOIT AFGANS MORE

When asked if there is a competition with Afghans working in the paper business, both Ersin and Serhat reply that they are poor anyway. “They are paid the worst. Afghans do whatever they want, and those at the top of the paper collecting business find the opportunity to employ them cheaply. Of course, we are better at collecting paper. Yet they are exploited much worse. Our job is difficult to do, and we get poor salaries, but they work under precarious conditions.”