AP PHOTOS: ‘These streets are ours': The hidden workforce that scours Istanbul’s garbage

ISTANBUL (AP) — The clang of makeshift carts echoes through winding alleys in one of Istanbul ‘s oldest neighborhoods as a hidden workforce scours the streets looking for recyclable paper, cardboard and plastic.

Their ranks have grown in recent years as Turkey’s cost of living surged, pushing thousands of men, women and even children to look for alternative income options to get by.

The narrow cobblestone lanes of Eminonu, an area packed with bazaars and crowded restaurants, are the collectors’ main hunting grounds, where they blend into Istanbul’s bustle.

Ergin Dogan, 29, says he has pulled his rickety cart through these streets since he was a boy. He remembers how his father struggled to make ends meet in their hometown of Nigde in central Turkey before the two came to Istanbul, Turkey’s biggest city, to try their luck here.

But it hasn’t been easy.

“I left school at 13,” Dogan said. “We sleep in dilapidated buildings near Suleymaniye Mosque, with dirty blankets and no real shower.”

They work from early morning till late at night. When a metal bar broke on Dogan’s cart on one of his garbage runs, he stopped only briefly to duct tape it.

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In the evening, his father brings his truck around and they load up the days’ haul of paper and plastic from Dogan and others in the area to sell to recycling facilities. After being processed, it will be used in industrial applications or reused as carton and paper.

Late at night, thieves sometimes stop them on the streets, asking for money.

“If we refuse, they threaten us,” Dogan says. “We work more than 12 hours, sometimes 17 (a day). If we take a day off, we go hungry.”

Dogan’s cousin, 28-year-old Ergun Dogan, Ergun’s younger brother Mehmet Dogan, 16, and their father, Serdar Dogan are also trash scavengers.

The cousin recounts how, if a sack on his cart accidentally touches a passer-by, the person often gets upset and tell him to “get your dirty thing away from me.”

Cumali Bakir, who oversees a recycling depot and buys from collectors like the Dogan cousins, says their jobs should be made official, and that they should be given proper “vests and meal cards.”

“They pull 150-kilogram carts uphill, often on an empty stomach,” Bakir said.

In the shadows of Istanbul’s grand minarets that pierce the skies and bustling ferry docks, 16-year-old Mehmet says he has been working since dropping out of eighth grade.

“Sometimes I see kids my age hanging out, and I’m ashamed,” he says. “I wish I could study and have fun with friends.”

Their father, Serdar Dogan, 48, has been collecting paper since 1995. “My life has been a disgrace,” he said. “I have no hope that it will change.”

Persistent inflation under the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, rising energy prices and the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic have left many families struggling to afford food and rent. They have also driven more people into the informal economy.

Annual inflation in Turkey stood at 39.05% in February, according to official figures, while some economists believe the real rate is higher. An estimated 13.6% of Turkey’s population was in poverty in 2024.

Through all this, the largely unseen trash scavengers continue to haul their bulging sacks.

“We are the real owners of Istanbul; these streets are ours,” says Ergin Dogan. “If there is a fire, we are the first to run to help. We love this city, but it doesn’t love us back.”