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Garbage alert: 11 Seoul districts expected to exceed dumping cap

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The third burial site at Sudokwon landfill in Incheon's Seo District. Courtesy of Sudokwon Landfill Management Corp.
The third burial site at Sudokwon landfill in Incheon's Seo District. Courtesy of Sudokwon Landfill Management Corp.

By Ko Dong-hwan

Despite the central government's efforts to reduce the ever-increasing amount of garbage from Seoul and surrounding regions, the reality betrays the goal, with 11 Seoul districts expected to spew out more garbage than legally allowed.

Thirty-seven local jurisdictions from Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province are expected to produce more garbage this year than the caps assigned to them.

The evaluation released Tuesday was jointly examined by the Ministry of Environment, the governments of the three regions and Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corp. The landfill in Incheon's western Seo-gu District is where garbage from the regions is buried.

The caps, which vary for the jurisdictions, were introduced in January. They came after a sharp rise in the amount of rubbish produced ― from 460,000 tons in 2015 to 780,000 tons in 2019.

The mounting problem is alarming because the landfill is due to end operation in 2025. It was established in 1992 and previously planned to close in 2016. But because there was no replacement site, its use was extended for 10 years, with a third burial ground prepared inside the landfill.

The cap regulation was passed in July 2019 by a special committee comprising the Sudokwon landfill president, representatives from the ministry and the three governments, experts and civilians.

The regulation set a maximum of 275,000 tons for Seoul, or 90 percent of its total in 2018, for direct dumping at the Sudokwon landfill. Incheon was assigned 96,000 tons and Gyeonggi 262,000 tons.

The latest survey, however, showed that the Seoul districts of Gangnam, Gangseo, Dongjak and Guro have already produced more garbage than their maximums, as of July. So have three Incheon districts and three Gyeonggi cities.

The survey has forecast that by the end of December, Gangnam will produce over 21,000 tons, or 257 percent of its maximum cap. Incheon's Yeonsu District was expected to produce 11,000 tons, or 229 percent of its cap, while Gyeonggi's Hwaseong city was tipped to create 17,000 tons, or 696 percent of its limit.

Jurisdictions that exceed their caps have to pay additional fees and cannot dump garbage at the landfill for five days in the next year, under the regulations.

The survey expected that additional dumping fees collected will amount to about 13.5 billion won ($11.3 million), which is 30 percent of last year's overall dumping fees from the central regions.

Sudokwon landfill said it will collect the excess fees and execute dumping bans by the end of March 2021.

While the regulation only deals with household garbage, the environment ministry said it will introduce another regulation to control garbage from businesses and construction sites. Debris, sewage sludge and food waste from those sites accounted for 68 percent of the landfill garbage in 2019.


Ko Dong-hwan aoshima11@koreatimes.co.kr


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