"Handle Waste Disposal Independently"…Incheon City Urges Metropolitan Area Local Governments with Official Letter on Waste Management Measures

In front of the city hall plaza on the 15th, Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun announced the 'Citizen Joint Action for a Major Shift in Resource Circulation Policy,' focusing on the termination of the use of the metropolitan landfill site by 2025. 2020.10.15 [Photo by Incheon City]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City announced on the 27th that it has sent official letters to 64 basic local governments in the Seoul metropolitan area, urging them to independently prepare waste disposal measures in anticipation of the closure of the metropolitan area landfill site in 2025.

In the official letter, Incheon City reiterated the policy to end the use of the landfill site currently located in Baekseok-dong, Seo-gu, which is used by 64 local governments in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi, and requested each local government to prepare countermeasures and practice waste reduction.

Additionally, the city informed 37 intermediate treatment companies handling construction and business waste in the metropolitan area about Incheon’s shift in resource circulation policies and demanded that they prepare their own treatment plans.

From the closure of the 3-1 section of the metropolitan landfill site (expected in 2025), construction and business waste will no longer be allowed to be brought into or treated at eco-friendly private landfills. Therefore, construction and business waste treatment companies that must process waste through landfill methods are required to prepare their own treatment measures.

The city plans to proceed based on the principle that private companies must independently handle construction and business waste, which accounted for 77% of the waste brought into the metropolitan landfill site as of last year.

As of the end of last year, the proportion of waste brought into the metropolitan landfill site was 42% from Seoul, 37% from Gyeonggi, and 21% from Incheon. By type, business waste accounted for 57%, household waste 23%, and construction waste 20%.

Incheon City has repeatedly declared the policy to end landfill site use in 2025 based on the 2015 agreement among the Ministry of Environment, Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi, the four parties involved in the landfill site consortium.

Furthermore, on the 15th, Mayor Park Namchun of Incheon announced to the public, "We will definitely end the use of the metropolitan area landfill site in 2025 and start a major shift in resource circulation policies to realize environmental justice based on the principle of waste treatment at the source," signaling a major transformation in metropolitan waste disposal policies.

Incheon City plans to announce next month the candidate site for a new private landfill to handle Incheon’s waste after the current landfill site is closed.

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