Ministry of Environment to Reduce Floating River Waste by Promoting Social Economy Enterprises

[Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Ministry of Environment announced on the 18th that it will actively foster community contribution-type social economy enterprises that efficiently collect and recycle river waste upstream of dams and create local jobs starting this year.

Social economy enterprises aim to proactively collect waste abandoned in rivers flowing into dam upstream areas to prevent floating waste damage during the rainy season, and to revitalize the local economy and create jobs.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Environment and Korea Water Resources Corporation will hold local briefings and announcements from the 19th until early April at four dam upstream areas: Daecheong Dam (Okcheon-gun), Yongdam Dam (Jinan-gun), Juam Dam (Suncheon-si), and Hapcheon Dam (Hapcheon-gun), to promote the establishment of social economy enterprises. After local briefings, local resident cooperatives will be formed, and once designated as preliminary social enterprises in May, full-scale operations will begin.

These regional social enterprises will participate not only in river waste collection but also in various activities for local environmental improvement, such as recycling waste with potential for additional profit (recycling woody plants like wood), neighborhood waste reduction campaigns, and environmental education projects.

The Ministry of Environment plans to expand community contribution-type social economy enterprises nationwide starting next year based on the business performance of these enterprises.

Park Jae-hyun, Director of the Water Environment Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Environment, said, "We are strengthening preventive measures to protect river environments and the public from floating waste even during heavy rainfall," adding, "We will continue to find and promote various support projects where environmental conservation and the local economy can coexist, like this social economy enterprise."

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