For months, residents of a quiet street in Bursa’s Yıldırım district in northwestern Türkiye wondered where the stomach-turning smell came from. This week, they got their answer.
Behind the door of a modest house in the Yeşilyayla neighborhood, municipal crews found rooms packed floor to ceiling with garbage. Bags, bottles and piles of refuse left no space to step.
“It was unbearable. We couldn’t open our windows,” one neighbor said, watching as trucks pulled away. “We had been waiting for this for so long.”
The cleanup took a full day. Workers from Yıldırım Municipality hauled away tons of waste, filling three trucks before the house was cleared. Police accompanied the teams as they sorted through the debris.
Neighbors said they had filed repeated complaints about the odor, which had spread across the neighborhood. Relief was clear as the final truck rolled out, carrying away the last of the trash.
Local reports suggested the resident of the house may struggle with psychological problems. Authorities said an investigation is underway.
