Seongnam City Urges Restraint in Using Illegal 'Kitchen Waste Disposers'

[Asia Economy (Seongnam) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province has urged the use of certified kitchen waste disposers.

This comes as some companies have been selling illegal modified kitchen waste disposers with false advertisements claiming they are quality-certified.

A kitchen waste disposer is a device that grinds food waste at home so that less than 20% of the residue is discharged through the sewage pipes along with wastewater.

According to the Sewerage Act and Ministry of Environment notices, kitchen waste disposers must be integrated products that cannot be arbitrarily modified, such as by removing the recovery container or internal filter.

If caught selling uncertified products, offenders face up to 2 years imprisonment or fines up to 20 million KRW.

Users are subject to fines up to 1 million KRW.

There are 106 quality-certified products from 43 companies, and the registration status can be checked on the Kitchen Food Waste Disposer Information System (www.gdis.or.kr).

A city official explained, "Illegal kitchen waste disposers cause various problems such as clogging drainage pipes, causing wastewater backflow into homes, generating foul odors, and difficulties in operating sewage treatment plants," adding, "We are strengthening promotions about using certified products through the city website and SNS."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.