Suncheon-si Strengthens Waste Control with 'Active Administration' Measures

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Suncheon City is actively taking administrative actions against the long-standing chronic issue of illegal waste dumping. At the end of last year, Suncheon City carried out an administrative enforcement to directly handle illegal waste that had been accumulating for years in Daegu-ri, Seomyeon.

The cost of administrative enforcement for illegal waste in Seomyeon was 180 million KRW, and Suncheon City claimed the enforcement costs from the landowners through subrogation rights. Currently, administrative lawsuits are ongoing with the landowners. Additionally, the city has announced that it will soon begin administrative enforcement against illegally dumped waste in Nakan-myeon.

The estimated cost for handling illegal waste in Nakan-myeon is about 150 million KRW. If Suncheon City proceeds with administrative enforcement, the processing costs will be charged to both the perpetrators and the landowners. Therefore, the city is taking preliminary steps to encourage voluntary disposal.

As a successful case of voluntary disposal, when the landowner was warned of administrative enforcement and a cost of 250 million KRW for illegal waste piled up in Woldeung-myeon, the landowner voluntarily disposed of the waste. The advantage of voluntary disposal is that Suncheon City avoids wasting administrative resources on unnecessary lawsuits, and landowners can remove the waste at a lower cost.

Meanwhile, the Cleaning Resources Department of Suncheon City is struggling with complaints, lawsuits, waste disposal, and enforcement supervision. According to a Suncheon City official, “There are many difficulties regarding the management issues of waste intermediate treatment businesses, which have recently become controversial.”

“If enforcement is strengthened, business operators may feel burdened and unable to endure it, and if they go bankrupt, Suncheon City could be left with a large amount of waste,” the official said. “Illegal activities cannot be overlooked,” and “There are concerns about a vicious cycle of management caused by business suspension, fines, and penalties.”

Furthermore, the official expressed difficulties, saying, “We have provided opportunities and guidance to business operators with an administrative approach of leniency, but this has been misunderstood as either favoritism or collusion,” and added that “there is also a risk that companies might exploit this, leaving us in a difficult situation where we cannot act either way.”

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