Description
This study employs a historical materialist perspective to examine the political, economic, and ecological consequences of plastic waste exported from the United Kingdom to Turkey via various commercial entities. From a historical materialist perspective, international trade is inextricably linked to the state, social classes, international capital movements, and the global relations that regulate these movements in a dialectical relationship of agent and structure. We argue that the concept of waste colonialism provides an invaluable framework for elucidating the nuances of the UK's transnational environmental policy.
Turkey's reliance on the global capitalist economy, exemplifies a form of international trade that is, in essence, a form of greenwashing for all parties involved. Extensive field observations have demonstrated that these plastics, which are circulated under the premise of recycling, are either incinerated in open areas or illicitly stored, indicating that the recycling process is not occurring as claimed. In this commercial exchange, conducted in accordance with the principle of unequal exchange, companies and the government in Turkey ignore the impact of plastic waste exports on ecological destruction by claiming that these wastes are valuable raw materials. In contrast, the UK's practice of sending its own waste to Turkey allows it to claim a high recycling rate and presents a different aspect of greenwashing, whereby it appears to combat waste through a new colony. The most important contribution of this study is its dialectical positioning of unequal exchange and greenwashing in relation to transnational and national capitalist classes and the social reproduction of capital.
