Market, morality and (just) price: the case of recycling economy in Turkey

By drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted amongst waste-pickers and recycling traders in the waste paper, plastic and scrap metal sectors, and engaging with literature from economic anthropology and history, as well as archival sources, this paper documents changing perceptions of just price, morality and fairness in the Turkish recycling market. The paper suggests that multiple markets imply multiple prices, which are contingent and contested. When dealing with price mechanisms largely outside their control, actors tend to associate a fair price with the going market price, rather than factors such as state regulation. Approaches to morality and assessments of fairness become more ambiguous when prices are mediated by actors? own practices. These range from gift relations to paternalism, envy and deception

Antibiotic and heavy metal resistant bacteria isolated from aegean sea water and sediment in Güllük Bay, Turkey Quantifying the resistance of identified bacteria species with potential for environmental remediation applications

Heavy metal and antibiotic-resistant bacteria have potential for environmental bioremediation applications. Resistant bacteria were investigated in sediment and seawater samples taken from the Aegean Sea, Turkey, between 2011 and 2013. Bioindicator bacteria in seawater samples were tested using the membrane filtration technique. The spread plate technique and VITEK® 2 Compact 30 micro identification system were used for heterotrophic aerobic bacteria in the samples. The minimum inhibition concentration method was used for heavy metal-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria were tested using the disk diffusion method. All bacteria isolated from sediment samples showed 100% resistance to rifampicin, sulfonamide, tetracycline and ampicillin. 98% of isolates were resistant against nitrofurantoin and oxytetracycline. Higher antibiotic and heavy metal resistance was recorded in bacteria isolated from sediment than seawater samples. The highest levels of bacterial metal resistance were recorded against copper (58.3%), zinc (33.8%), lead (32.1%), chromium (31%) and iron (25.2%). The results show that antibiotic and heavy metal resistance in bacteria from sediment and seawater can be observed as responses to environmental influences including pollution in marine areas. © 2020 Johnson Matthey.Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştirma Kurumu: 110Y243 İÜ BAP Project/19347 Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştirma KurumuThe authors wish to thank the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK, project number: 110Y243, 2011) and Istanbul University Scientific Research Project Unit (İÜ BAP Project/19347) for their financial support