Removed posters and banners for the general elections are piled in the back of a truck in Gwangju, April 11. Yonhap

Environmental concerns are arising as a considerable amount of waste from political banners used for elections is being incinerated rather than recycled.

According to data reported by the Ministry of Environment, the total amount of waste generated since 2018 from banners reached 20,000 tons as of last year.

Specifically, there were 1,557 tons of disposed political banners after the local elections in June 2022, 1,110 tons after the presidential election in March 2022 and 1,739 tons after the general elections in 2020.

The government expects that the amount of discarded banners generated for last week's general elections will exceed 1,740 tons, or about 2.9 million sheets.

The increase in discarded banners is attributed to the continuous relaxation of regulations regarding the size and number of banners allowed.

In 2005, the Public Official Election Act was amended to eliminate restrictions on the size and material of banners that are allowed to be displayed at election offices.

Consequently, ultra-large banners measuring 100 meters long and 10 meters high were seen during the recent campaign period for the April 10 elections.

Another amendment to the Public Official Election Act in 2018 increased the allowed number of political banners from one to two per administrative district — eup, myeon or dong.

Moreover, the number of banners surged due to the implementation at the end of 2022 of the Outdoor Advertisement Act, which permits party banners to be installed without restrictions, apart from election banners.

However, the percentage of campaign banners being recycled is less than 25 percent. After the general elections in 2020, the presidential election and local elections in 2022, only 24.6 percent of waste banners were recycled on average.

This low recycling rate is because the banners are made primarily of synthetic plastic, making recycling difficult. Additionally, election banners are often incinerated because it's challenging to make clothing or bags using them due to candidates' faces or political party names printed on them.

Incineration contributes to environmental pollution as it emits dioxins, a carcinogen that promotes the development of cancer. According to Greenpeace, approximately 6.28 kilograms of greenhouse gases are emitted during the production and incineration of an election banner.

To address pollution caused by political banners, the government is urging local governments to prioritize their recycling, but the impact seems insignificant.

The interior and environment ministries announced on April 8 a plan to invest 1.5 billion won to support a recycling project for waste banners.

However, an official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government pointed out that there appears to be a lack of demand for products made from recycled banners and a lack of networking with recycling companies, which lead to low participation in the recycling project.

None of the 25 districts in Seoul have confirmed their intention to participate in the project so far.