Jeju-si, Allegations of Favoritism in Selection of Food Waste Disposal Company

Selection Process Completed in Half a Month After Over 5 Months... Explanation of "Unavoidable Situation"

Company Designated Without Pilot Operation for Performance Verification Conducted So Far

New Processing Method Unit Price Increased by About 80%... Criticism of Budget Waste

Current Landfill to End in 2 Years... Billions in Facility Investment by Company "Unacceptable"

Food waste treatment odor reduction facility within Jeju City Environmental Facilities Management Office located in Bonggae-dong, Jeju City.

[Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won] Allegations of favoritism have been raised regarding the selection of a new food waste processing company at the Jeju City Environmental Facilities Management Office, which faced issues last month after leaving about 300 tons of food waste unattended.

According to Jeju City and related industries, the contract review process for selecting the processing company, which typically takes more than five months, was completed in just half a month. The new processing company was awarded a private contract under a non-disclosure ordinance for private consignment without official performance verification or the pilot period that had been previously implemented.

Additionally, the food waste processing unit price was increased by 80%, and despite investing about 2 billion KRW over the past two years to install odor reduction devices, it was confirmed that these devices cannot be applied to the new processing company's method, leading to criticism of budget waste.

The Jeju City Environmental Facilities Management Office ended the microbial extinction method for food waste processing, which had been operated for seven years due to severe odor issues last month, and changed to a drying method while selecting a consignment company.

The company selection was based on the Jeju Province Private Consignment Ordinance and was conducted through a review process, which differs from the general competitive bidding method and is carried out with strict procedures to prevent favoritism.

A Jeju Province Policy Planning Office official explained, “The process requires passing through the Jeju Province General Review Committee, the consent of the Jeju Provincial Council, and the Selection Committee for the Consignment Institution, which usually takes more than five months.”

However, this consignment review was conducted at high speed, with the company selection submitted on the 8th of last month and finalized on the 22nd, completing the process in just half a month.

Moreover, the selection method did not involve a public competitive process with multiple companies participating but rather reviewed only a specific single company, raising suspicions of favoritism.

Also, the pilot period that had been operated during previous company selections was ignored.

Until now, when selecting food waste processing companies, a pilot period of about two months was conducted at the landfill site to assess the efficiency, issues of the processing method, and the odor concentration before designating the company.

In July, one company also conducted a pilot operation for about two months but withdrew at a loss due to poor performance.

A Jeju City Environmental Business Management Office official admitted operational shortcomings and stated, “In July, we visited the site of the contracted company operating in Cheonan with representatives of the residents' countermeasure committee and selected the company after consulting with residents,” adding, “There is a provision in the Private Consignment Ordinance allowing non-disclosure review selection in exceptional and urgent cases, so please understand.”

There are also concerns about excessive budget waste at the Jeju City Environmental Facilities Management Office.

Jeju City spent about 2 billion KRW over the past two years to install odor reduction devices to resolve odors generated during food waste processing, but it was confirmed that these devices cannot be applied to the drying method used by the current contracted company.

The drying method generates heat during the process of drying moisture from food waste, and the existing odor reduction devices cannot withstand this heat.

In May, Jeju City, together with the Ministry of Environment and the Korea Environment Corporation, conducted a large-scale on-site cause analysis of odors in the Bonggae-dong area where the landfill is located, and odor reduction measures related to food waste are also under review.

The results regarding the cause of the odor have not yet been released, and the local community criticizes Jeju City for changing the food waste processing company at a time when odor reduction projects in the landfill area have been selected as a national agenda and countermeasures are being formulated.

Furthermore, suspicions have arisen regarding the contract for the unit price with the new company.

Jeju City contracted at 91,000 KRW per ton for the extinction method operated for the past seven years and at 95,000 KRW for the new drying method.

While the simple comparison shows a 4,000 KRW increase, the extinction method's unit price applies to 60% of the food waste remaining after primary processing, which includes sorting and moisture removal, whereas the drying method's unit price applies to the entire raw food waste before sorting.

For example, processing 100 tons of food waste would cost 5.46 million KRW under the previous method, but 9.5 million KRW under the new contract.

As a result, Jeju City increased the food waste processing unit price by 80% by changing companies and will have to spend nearly 2 billion KRW annually on processing costs going forward.

A local environmental company representative, Mr. A, expressed strong suspicion, saying, “I don’t know if it’s right for Jeju City to entrust an external company with an additional 2 billion KRW without operating the primary food waste processing facility that was budgeted and installed,” and “I also don’t understand the new processing company coming in with tens of billions of KRW invested in the current landfill, which ends in two years.”

Meanwhile, a Jeju City official explained, “The new processing company is responsible for the primary processing steps of crushing, sorting, and dehydration, which were previously operated directly, so the unit price increase is not valid,” and added, “The existing odor reduction devices will be utilized according to a separate plan.”

Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won captain@asiae.co.kr

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