A casual stroll down any alley in Seoul soon reveals one of the ugliest sides of the city: mountains of garbage bags piled up on one another, plastic cups forcibly stuffed into overflowing trash cans, and disposables left on the sidewalk. People constantly dispose of waste, whether correctly or not, but most never think about where all this trash goes. In fact, South Korea is facing a major crisis in waste management, where landfills and incinerators around the nation are heavily saturated. Without properly addressing this issue, Korea will inevitably end up drowning in trash.
According to the Ministry of Environment (ME), the average daily amount of waste generated in 2019 was 497,238 tons, which is a 40 percent increase in comparison to 2009. With the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) causing a spike in take-outs and delivery foods, the rate of waste production is on an exponential rise. Since landfills have been Korea’s primary solution to non-recyclable waste disposals, it is unsurprising that more than half of household waste landfills are expected to be fully saturated by 2030. The problem at hand is that the rate of waste production is currently higher than that of waste processing, which indicates that a more efficient alternative is needed.
Additionally, the use of landfills has caused constant local political quarrel, the most notable one being the controversy over the Sudokwon (or capital areas) Landfill Site in Incheon. Waste from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province – the two most heavily populated places in South Korea – has been buried in Seo District, Incheon since 1992. The original expiry date was extended until 2016, and this was recently delayed again upon request from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. In response to the burden of processing waste being shifted upon them again, Incheon announced that the use of the Sudokwon Landfill Site will be terminated in 2025. Now, Seoul and Gyeonggi Province must find a new solution to their piles of waste.
Incinerators: The New Landfills
Faced with the emergent issue of having no more landfill capacity, the ME proposed a legislative amendment to the Waste Management Act, claiming that the era of landfills is over. With the implementation of the amendment, capital areas in Korea must first incinerate waste then bury the ashes by 2026, and then bury the ashes, and the remaining districts must comply by 2030. This change corresponds to the movement of switching from landfills to incinerators worldwide, particularly in Europe and Japan. For instance, according to Dong-A Ilbo, the use of landfills takes up one percent, 0.8 percent, and 0.7 percent among all means of processing waste in Japan, Denmark, and Sweden respectively.
In comparison, landfills in Korea processed 6.1 percent of all waste, whereas incinerators processed a lesser 5.2 percent in 2019 as reported by Korea Waste Association. This suggests a clear direction for Korea: building more incinerators and increasing the rate of their usage. Various environmental and economic advantages come with using incinerators instead of landfills. Articles by Dong-A Ilbo elaborate that burning waste reduces the total volume by 10 to 20 percent, which is significant when the unit of waste being processed daily is thousands of tons. In addition, heat energy generated from burning waste can be converted into electricity or fuel for heating systems. Some of the products, or ash, can be even used as building materials for sidewalk blocks.
Despite having multiple benefits, the construction of incinerators is extremely difficult due to opposition from residents. For instance, on October 7, citizens of Jeondong-myeon, a township of Sejong City, publicly protested the government’s plan to build an incinerator in the area. Professor Kim Seungdo (Environmental Sciences and Biotechnology, Hallym University) refers to this phenomenon as NIMBY, short for “Not In My Backyard,” which indicates the opposition of residents to a local development proposal. He warns that although rational opposition may help direct policies in the right way, protests based on regional selfishness threaten the proper installation of waste disposal facilities.
A solution to this phenomenon requires a deeper inquiry into the reasons behind such opposition. According to a survey by Hankook Research, 52 percent of the respondents were concerned about harmful health effects and 11.9 percent were concerned about possible malodor and environmental pollution. However, these concerns are no more than misunderstandings. This is because landfill gas – which produces odor and pollution – is not generated since incinerated materials have little to no organic matter, as explained by a Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corporation (SLC) official. Professor Kim adds that educating the public and maintaining transparency with correct information are key elements in resolving misunderstandings and, as an extension, opposition to incinerators.
Going Back to the Root of the Problem
The basis of all waste disposal goes back to the government-authorized general standard waste bags. Over the past years, these plastic bags have been produced using vinyl or recycled raw materials. Professor Kim explains that the benefits of using vinyl are that it is tough, light, and physiochemically and biologically stable, which are common characteristics of synthetic resin. However, these characteristics prevent vinyl from decomposing when buried in landfills, thereby converting the convenient bags into toxic agents that remain inside the landfill for hundreds of years.
Environmental pollution caused by the use of vinyl bags extends beyond the release of toxic substances. According to Chemical Engineering and Materials Research Information Center (CHERIC), three kilograms of carbon dioxide are generated for every one kilogram of vinyl; meanwhile, 992 million vinyl bags were produced throughout 2019. One harmful effect of carbon dioxide is that as a greenhouse gas, it traps additional heat in the atmosphere, which is a direct precursor of the many modern day environmental quandaries such as global warming. Given the enormous consumption of vinyl bags and their damage to the Earth, an efficient alternative is needed.
Recently, eco-friendly waste bags have emerged as a viable solution. Specifically, these bags are made of bioplastics or biodegradable materials such as starch, allowing them to decompose over time. However, their major problem lies in their physical and chemical instability, which causes them to be easily torn. Yet, Professor Kim remains optimistic on this alternative as he expects that “overcoming the technical challenge is entirely possible in the future” through the promotion of government projects that connect industry, academia, and research.
Complications surrounding waste disposal can be easily overlooked as it has become such an integrated part of people’s lives. However, it is crucial to recognize the detrimental effects that neglected and accumulated waste can have on local politics and the environment. With incinerators and practical eco-friendly waste bags being the nation’s two major solutions to its waste problems, it is now time to foster public awareness and work towards being a waste-less country.