Dump for which 15-year lifetime was assumed already used for 30 years

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Harmandalı Dump Area in Çiğli, İzmir, belonging to the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality (İZBB) was set up in 1992 assuming a lifetime of 15 years; however, it is still being used although 30 years have passed.

There have been landslides and shears in the dump area in the last years and 17 houses and one cattle pen were evacuated until today, affected by landslides, since there is no safety of life and property.

The local community in the Cumhuriyet district went to the court requesting the dump area to be closed on August 24, 2022.

There are reports on the dump area written by the professional organizations affiliated with the Union of Architecture and Engineer Chambers of Türkiye (TMMOB) and by the Çiğli City Council, but no steps have been taken so far for the dump to be closed.

The earthquake on October 30, 2020, and the heavy downfalls in 2021 have triggered the landslide risk in the region and many have emphasized that the area should be declared an "Area Exposed to Disaster." However the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) İzmir management decided that the area could not be declared as such since the necessary conditions were not met.

Shears developed

İbrahim Büyükgöl, the chairperson of Çipli Environment, Culture and Solidarity Association told bianet that the problems being experienced and the disasters that may come "should be prevented at once."

Büyükgöl said, "In the last years the hills no more accept the garbage, shears, and land movements have started to develop. Seven families had to evacuate their houses because shears developed on the foundation of their houses. They promised to give rent allowance to these families but the families still were not able to solve their housing problems.

"There is the risk that there will be a landslide into the settlement areas. Again there is the risk of methane gas explosion. Hundreds could die. These people do not have any other place to go. Those who zoned these areas for housing and who do not take any measures despite the reports are responsible. An event similar to the Ümraniye explosion can happen anytime if no measures are taken."

A public health problem

Büyükgöl also told bianet that the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate has explained the landslides as the result of the pressure the garbage has created and said that the government and the İZBB were cooperating with regard to the dump area.

He said, "This area was opened to use as a dump area without an Environmental Impact Analysis made at the time. Now it has turned into a huge storage area. Medical wastes which should be dumped into concrete pools are dumped into the soil. Again chemical wastes are also dumped here.

Zero-waste project should be developed

Büyükgöl added, "The gases that mix into the air from the Harmandalı dump and contamination of both the soil and the sea with chemicals the seagulls take from the dump all create risks.

He also said that the municipality was looking for another area in other districts of İzmir and said, "Our purpose is not that this dump area is closed here and this destruction is created elsewhere. A zero-waste project should be developed. No cost is over the cost of health. If they cannot do this, each district can dispose of their waste within its own borders; because the solution to this problem cannot be postponed." (TY/PE)