Recycling Center in Ankara

Turkey is one of those countries that is working hard to make great strides forward in a short time. In their effort to gain a space in the European Union, they are making a lot of changes to things here. One of those changes is to bring the country up to speed on environmental issues. Modern Turkey has only been a country since the 20s and so they've been running while most other countries have been walking. It's hard but they are making efforts and hopefully it will catch on country-wide soon.
Yesterday, our grade one students got to go to one of the recycling centers in Ankara to look at how it is done here. It's a far cry from the modern plants in other countries, but they are trying and they are recycling. Our students at BLIS are going to be the ones who make the changes to this country to bring it to an equal standing with some of it's European neighbours so taking them there and having them see it was wonderful and educational for all. Here are some photos of the recycling plant:
These huge bales of paper ready to go off to a recycling center were everywhere... there were bales of bottles, tin, plastic, tetra pack boxes and so on. These was more of a sorting depot.

Some of the hand sorting that was done on the ground level.

One of the workers explaining how they operate at this center to our students and teachers.

Above where the yellow section is is a conveyor belt where ladies stand and sweep materials down the correct holes to go into these caged bins. It seems disorganized but was working pretty well from what we could see.

More sorting cages.


We noticed this little puppy sleeping on top of a pile of non-recyclables... street dogs are common here in Turkey and are often fed scraps from workers etc. but it was sure cold out there. Poor puppy!!