CHARCOAL WORKERS

The documentary story of the charcoal workers in Türkiye and their negative effect to the environment and human health.

CHARCOAL WORKERS
Charcoal burners and related workers carry out the necessary operations to convert wood into charcoal or to extract crude turpentine from wood, using traditional techniques. They operate a simple kiln to convert wood into charcoal by a slow-burning process. They generally live in a nearby village by the forest. They cut tree branches and bring to the charcoal production site and they cut the branches in one size and prepare the pile for slow burning. To do so they cover the branches with straw and clay. They control the slow burning from the top of the pile. The next day, after the piles burns sufficiently, they start to collect the charcoal branches from the pile. It is a hard and unhealthy work because they inhale smoke during their work and generally their faces are covered with black smoke dust. Because of the dense gray smoke, this traditional process has negative effects on the environment and causes global warming.
This charcoal production village is in Catalca Town near Istanbul/Turkey.