Incheon City Launches Full-Scale Resource Circulation Policy... Aiming for 95% Waste Recycling Rate by 2025

Jung-gu and Yeonsu-gu Launch Pilot Project for Recycling Household Waste Collection and Disposal
Expanding Resource Recycling of Sludge, Incineration Ash, and Previously Discarded Waste

In front of the city hall plaza, Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun is announcing 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 is set to fully implement a resource circulation policy aimed at reducing waste and increasing recycling rates. The goal is to raise the waste recycling rate to 95% by 2025.

The city announced on the 6th that this initiative is being promoted in preparation for the closure of the metropolitan landfill site in 2025 and in line with the Ministry of Environment’s plan to ban direct landfill of metropolitan household waste starting in 2026.

First, Jung-gu and Yeonsu-gu have been selected as pilot project areas for improving the household waste recycling collection and disposal system. The project will focus on encouraging proper waste separation mainly in single-family homes and commercial establishments, with plans to expand citywide next year.

In the pilot areas, to prevent multiple types of waste from being mixed in a single bag, four types of item-specific recycling bags will be distributed, and centralized separation and collection facilities will be expanded.

To prevent mixing and contamination of recyclables during collection, 18 additional non-compaction vehicles that preserve the original shape of recyclables during transport will be supplied, and collection frequency will increase from once a week to three times a week.

The city also plans to reduce landfill volume by recycling resources such as sewage treatment plant sludge, incineration ash and fly ash from household waste, and fly ash from road cleaning, which were previously entirely landfilled.

To this end, the city’s Waterworks Headquarters has launched a project to recycle water purification sludge as a cement substitute raw material. Approximately 24,000 tons of annual water purification sludge from four purification plants will be gradually processed, aiming for 100% recycling from 2025 onward.

Incineration ash will be recycled as cement raw material and reclaimed soil for public waters, and products made from these materials will be mandated for use as construction materials in projects conducted by the city, districts, and public corporations through ordinance enactment and other measures.

Additionally, free home collection services for discarded home appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, and TVs, as well as collection projects for used batteries and coffee grounds, will be strengthened.

Since 2014, the city has been providing free home collection services for discarded home appliances in cooperation with the Korea Electronics Resource Circulation Cooperative and others. Due to the increasing volume of collected items, a public collection center for discarded home appliances was additionally established in March this year at the Songdo Southern Metropolitan Resource Recovery Center.

Up to October this year, 116,000 discarded home appliances have been collected, receiving positive responses from citizens.

Used batteries, which can pollute soil and air when landfilled or incinerated, can be exchanged for two new batteries when citizens bring 20 batteries of any type to their local eup, myeon, or dong community service centers.

A resource circulation model has been established through public-private collaboration to collect, transport, and produce products from coffee grounds, a highly recyclable organic resource, and from next year, all districts will participate.

Coffee grounds are currently classified as household waste and disposed of by incineration or landfill in volume-based waste bags. As of August this year, there are 5,188 coffee shops in the Incheon area, generating approximately 5,604 tons of coffee grounds annually.

Incheon City emphasizes that to realize an eco-friendly resource circulation policy by reducing the increasing amount of direct landfill waste annually, it is essential to raise the waste recycling rate.

The amount of direct landfill household waste in Incheon increased nearly twofold from 57,000 tons in 2015 to 106,000 tons in 2018, but the waste recycling rate remained at 59.8% (as of 2018).

Since the success of eco-friendly resource circulation policies depends on citizen participation, on the 13th of last month, the city held the launch ceremony of the “Resource Circulation City Incheon Pan-Citizen Action” at the Incheon Citizen Mayor’s Grand Debate, declaring that 43 civic groups will promote eco-friendly resource circulation policies and a pan-citizen movement.

On the 15th, Citizen’s Day, Mayor Park Namchun declared “Incheon City, Waste Independence,” announcing the end of metropolitan landfill site use by 2025, and read a citizen joint action statement, affirming the city’s strong determination.

An Incheon City official stated, “With the closure of the metropolitan landfill site in 2025 and the cessation of direct landfill of household waste in the metropolitan area from 2026, all regions nationwide, including the metropolitan area, must establish eco-friendly resource circulation policies. We plan to steadily implement the major transformation of resource circulation policies announced on Citizen’s Day starting this year.”

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