Moon slams gov't over trash crisis
By Kim Rahn
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President Moon Jae-in
President Moon Jae-in has rebuked the environment ministry and related government organizations for failing to prepare preemptive countermeasures against the confusion in recycling although the crisis had been predicted months ago.
He also apologized to the people for causing inconvenience, pledging to come up with a comprehensive policy on domestic waste management.
The reprimand came Tuesday, about a week after residents in parts of Seoul and the surrounding areas experienced the havoc of ineffective waste-management for a couple of days after private recycling companies refused to collect recyclable plastic bags, bottles and styrofoam, citing their commercial non-viability as China banned foreign imports of trash for environmental reasons.
The crisis ended temporarily after the ministry promised to make efforts to make up for their losses.
“Last week there was big confusion at some apartments as recyclables, such as plastic bags and bottles, were not collected properly,” Moon said in a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae. “I'm sorry for causing inconvenience to the people.”
He said the central government failed to properly deal with the issue in advance.
“China announced its plan to ban foreign imports of recycled goods in July last year, and it started doing so in January. The related ministries and agencies could forecast what would happen if China stopped the imports, but they failed to present necessary measures in time.”
Moon also said that in September when the government restricted the use of solid refuse fuel (SRF), which is made of recyclable plastic bags, as a means to fight air pollution, the environment ministry could and should have expected a decrease in the demand of recyclable plastic bags, but did not.
“Reflecting on these, I hope the ministries and related organizations will prepare a fundamental solution regarding recyclable materials,” the President said.
He noted while the world is making various policies to reduce the use of plastic products, Korea, which is the No. 1 country for per capita consumption of plastic goods, has low public recognition on this issue and related policies are insufficient.
“We need to take this incident as an opportunity to establish comprehensive policies on domestic waste. Improved measures are required in every step of recycling, from production and consumption to disposal, collection and recycling. We also need a pan-governmental, long-term plan to establish living culture related to domestic waste,” he said.
The trash crisis began April 1 when 48 private recycling companies said they would not collect plastic bags and bottles because they couldn't sell them to China anymore and make money with such products. However, by law, plastics are recyclable and should be collected separately and reused, and it is illegal to dispose of recyclables in authorized garbage bags.
Confused, people were at a loss over how to dispose of plastic bags and bottles, with uncollected plastic waste piling up at some apartment complexes.
The ministry belatedly urged the recycling companies to continue collecting the waste, promising a comprehensive measure to make up for their losses. The companies returned to work the next day, but it is possible for such a situation to recur.