By Kwon Mee-yoo
“The world is watching. Please refrain from putting out food garbage during the G20 summit in November,” a poster in Seodaemun District read.
Seodaemun-gu, located in the northwestern part of Seoul, is asking its residents not to throw out food garbage from Nov. 11 to 12, as they will stop operating the food waste treatment system during the summit period in order to not “give a bad impression” to the visiting heads of the G20 countries.
According to the ward office, they will suspend running food waste disposal facilities at the Nanji Sewage Treatment Center, located in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.
Since the sewage treatment center is on the road to the capital from Incheon International Airport and the unpleasant odor of food waste might give an unfavorable impression to the leaders while in Korea, the district office said.
“We will continue to collect food garbage during the period, but we want to minimize the amount with cooperation from residents,” a district official said.
However, ward residents are up in arms.
“I have no idea how food waste is connected to the G20 summit. Are they asking citizens not to cook during the summit?” Lee, a resident, said.
Civic organizations have condemned the policy of the Seodaemun District as unnecessary.
“The idea, which seems to date back to the 1960s or 1970s, forces unreasonable inconvenience on residents. This is something that might lower the national prestige,” an official of the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice said. The district office said it had aimed to endure some discomfort for a short while to create a better environment for the summit, though they understand the criticism from the citizens opposing it.