Gurye-gun, Flood Disaster Waste Disposal Costs... Not a Subsidy Diversion

Difficult to Distinguish Between Disaster Waste and Household Waste
Forced to Outsource Disposal Due to Fire at Suncheon City Resource Circulation Center

Volunteers are cleaning up trash in Gurye-gun, which suffered flood damage last year.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Gurye-gun (Governor Kim Soon-ho) announced its position on the 2nd regarding the recent controversy over waste disposal.

Gurye-gun, which suffered enormous damage from last year’s flood, has been fighting a battle against the waste brought in by the flood and the waste generated during the restoration process.

In the flood recovery situation where it is difficult to distinguish between flood disaster waste and household waste, Gurye-gun, which has been processing them collectively, stated, “The original goal was to process the flood disaster waste by the end of last year, but due to the extensive damage, it is still being brought in.”

Household waste was planned to be sent to the ‘Suncheon City Resource Circulation Center’ starting January, but due to a fire that occurred on December 28 last year, the ‘Suncheon City Resource Circulation Center’ was unable to accept household waste.

With nowhere to send household waste, the county was unable to select a consignment processing company.

Faced with this situation, Gurye-gun stated that it had no choice but to entrust the disaster waste processing company with the processing of household waste as well.

A county official said, “Since last month, after completing fire recovery, household waste has been sent to the Suncheon City Resource Circulation Center and is being operated normally.”

Meanwhile, regarding the controversy over subsidy misuse, the county clarified its position, stating, “It is true that processing costs were paid to the disaster waste processing company, but since the settlement process is still ongoing, it is not a case of subsidy misuse.”

A member of the Gurye civic society group, Mr. A, said, “I heard that the disaster waste was completed by the end of last year. Household (large) waste is being processed as disaster waste. I don’t know if they are trying to match the 23 billion won that was allocated, but I hope that any unused budget is returned or, although it may not be legal, used for the citizens.”

Citizen Mr. B said, “If they tried to clean up the waste with government subsidies, that was the right thing to do, so I don’t understand why the media is stirring up noise by calling it subsidy misuse.”

A county official said, “It is difficult to distinguish between flood disaster waste and household waste. Since the subsidy settlement process for flood disaster waste, which is still being brought in, remains with the Ministry of Environment, we will do our best to maximize benefits for the residents.”

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