Italy‑Turkey Illegal Textile Waste Trafficking Exposes €12 Million Fraud

European anti‑fraud authorities dismantled a network that illegally shipped roughly 4,200 tons of textile waste from Italy to Turkey. The waste, rich in hard‑to‑recycle acrylic fibers, was mis‑labelled to avoid costly recycling and environmental regulations.

Joint investigations by OLAF, Italy’s Carabinieri and Turkish customs resulted in the seizure of about €12 million in assets and the opening of probes into 20 suspects. Inspectors uncovered an additional 2,100 tons in a non‑compliant Turkish recycling warehouse and 768 tons stored at the Mersin port, all earmarked for illegal disposal.

The case highlights a broader problem of EU waste exports to Turkey, which imported around 12 million tons of waste in 2022. It has prompted the European Commission to tighten textile‑waste rules from 2025 onward, aiming to stop false‑labelled shipments and curb organized environmental crime.