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| Illegally thrown away waste creates a giant hill in the Danmil area of Uiseong County, North Gyeongsang Province in this June 17 photo. Courtesy of North Gyeongsang Provincial Government |
By Ko Dong-hwan
The Ministry of Environment said Wednesday that it will begin seeking land to build special facilities dedicated to the treatment of waste, which the country plans to introduce nationwide later this year.
The facilities, designed to tackle the country's rising waste, will specifically handle "non-household and non-industrial waste" arising from accidents and disasters. These products, belonging to that category created by the ministry, contain mercury and natural radioactive elements among others, and are often illegally disposed of by dumping.
The ministry's latest bid follows the introduction of a special act on installing and operating waste treatment facilities, and supporting residents, which became effective in June 2021.
The facilities will consist of an incineration plant treating up to 200 tons of waste per day; a landfill, 2 million cubic meters in size; and a recycling plant.
The ministry said it will start running an advertisement from July 15 for the next 60 days to find candidate areas.
Municipalities interested in housing the facility must have the consent from a majority of residents living within two kilometers of the proposed site. The site must be at least 200,000 square meters in area and cannot have "karst topography," characterized by numerous caves, sinkholes, fissures and underground streams. Also, it must not have any legally protected areas, including those for drinking water sources, fishery resources, natural parks, cultural heritage, natural habitats, trees for forestry, and areas designated for military or educational purposes.
Residents living within two kilometers of the facility will be given 10 percent of the revenue generated from its operations. Those who invest in construction will share another 10 percent of the revenue. Municipalities selected to operate the facility will be given 40 percent of the revenue specifically to spend on welfare and improving the convenience of residents.
The state-owned Korea Environment Corporation (KEC) has been assigned by the ministry to handle the selection process. On receiving applications from interested municipalities, the KEC will inspect the site and decide on selection with help of a special committee comprised of the municipality's representatives, lawmakers and experts.
The search for waste treatment facility sites follows the ministry's previous attempts to search for land to create a new landfill to replace an existing one in Incheon where household, industrial and construction waste collected from Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province and dumped there is pushing it to near maximum capacity. Despite the ministry's months-long offer, no cities have stepped forward so far.
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