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Months-long water shortages and overflowing trash in Izmir are now creating serious hazards for residents. In the city’s five largest districts, garbage piles stretching for meters have been set on fire, prompting growing public outrage.
Locals said, “The trash mountains are now so big that even the fire department cannot handle them. We cannot live in our homes due to the smell, smoke, and flies,” highlighting the deteriorating living conditions.
Izmir has recently made headlines not for its tourism or natural beauty, but for its water and garbage problems.
Due to prolonged drought, water cuts occur every two days between 23:00 and 05:00 local time, while streets remain clogged with waste.
The city produces approximately 5,000 tons of trash daily, but breakdowns in collection, storage, transport, and disposal have created major problems.
Buca, Konak, Karabaglar, Karsiyaka, and Bornova now face massive trash accumulation. In Buca’s Seyhan neighborhood, for example, Hatboyu Street—about 500 meters long—frequently becomes a site for burning waste. Nearby, a football-field-sized area filled with household waste, plastics, textiles, and rubble has also caught fire.
Resident Begum Ece Elcekin lamented the state of her neighborhood, saying it has turned into a landfill.
“These trash mountains are now causing fires that even the fire department cannot control. My six-month-old niece cannot even go outside. We cannot live in our home due to the smell, smoke, and flies,” Elcekin told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Local business owner Yunus Cirik expressed concern about fires damaging transformers and creating wider safety risks.
“This is my workplace, my livelihood. If it burns, my life is over, and other shops will burn too. What if someone is inside during a fire? I have called Buca Municipality countless times, but no one takes action. Please, solve this trash problem now,” Cirik said.
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