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| An employee of Greenpeace Southeast Asia's Filipino Office on Dec. 6, 2018, inspects some 5,100 tons of waste on Misamis Oriental in the Philippine's Mindanao Island, which were illegally exported from Korea earlier that year. Courtesy of Greenpeace |
By Ko Dong-hwan
Exports and imports of waste will face tougher scrutiny as revised rules on moving of refuse to and from Korea are set to be enforced starting April 1.
The Ministry of Environment said Wednesday that a new enforcement ordinance will be implemented to better regulate importers and exporters of waste. To strengthen the screening system, more detailed information about waste transactions will be required.
The ministry said the change was necessary to prevent international conflicts involving illegal waste, which have become more common. In 2018, Korea decided to bring back 5,100 tons of household waste that had been illegally shipped to the Philippines. The job was time-consuming due to the sheer amount of waste and a lack of rules. The waste was shipped over multiple voyages and took until last December to be incinerated.
Resources Circulation Bureau official Hong Dong-gon from the National Environment Policy Office under the ministry said the revision was "to abide by the 1992 Basel Convention under the UN Environment Program," which controls cross-border movements of hazardous waste and the disposal of such refuse. Korea signed the convention in 1994.
The revision also designates state-run Korea Environment Corporation as the country's official safety control tower to handle imported and exported waste. The company, until 2024, will thoroughly examine at least 10 percent of all exported or imported waste that pass through Korean customs ― instead of the current level of just 1 percent ― to heighten monitoring of waste.
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| Local reporters in the Philippines in January, 2019, report on a container filled with waste that was illegally exported to the country the previous year by a Korean recycling company. Courtesy of Greenpeace Korea |
Under the new rule, people who can export waste are restricted to those in the business of dealing with disposed or recyclable refuse and those who discard waste only from businesses and other industrial sites. Before the revision, the conditions were more inclusive, allowing those who discard waste regardless of type.
When it comes to importing waste, the pre-revision rule had left the doors open to those professionally dealing with disposable as well as recyclable wastes and non-professionals who commissioned the former group to discard their waste. The new rule will ban the non-professional groups from doing so.
The ministry, however, is thinking about making an exception for less environmentally hazardous waste products, like paper ― which were the most exported and second-most imported wastes in Korea in 2020. The pending decision may allow those in fields other than the country's waste-dealing businesses to export or import paper or other refuse that may be considered less harmful.
The new rule also requires anyone who exports or imports waste to sign up for a surety that covers for at least six months or deposit amount, so that the country can more effectively deal with costs in cases where it is discovered that waste has been illegally dumped overseas.
Waste exporters are also additionally required to provide information in the government's electronic database about their waste exports prior to passing through customs of an importing country. The required information includes date of ship-loading, ship number, the shipping company's name, port of arrival, and dates of unloading and customs inspections. Before the new rule, the country did not require exporters to provide information related to an importing country.
In 2020, Korea imported a total of 2.58 million tons of waste and exported 300,000 tons of refuse. Coal ash and other incinerated remnants accounted for most of the imported waste at 760,000 tons, followed by paper (460,000 tons) and batteries (420,000 tons). Some 120,000 tons of paper waste was exported, while synthetic high-molecular compounds were the next-most exported type of waste at 80,000 tons.
