Pohang City Gives 'Food Waste' a New Look as Eco-Friendly Bioenergy

Enactment of the 'Biogas Act' Mandates Recycling of Organic Waste into Biogas

Implementation of Waste Generation Site Treatment Principle Requires Food Waste Disposal Facilities

Biogas Facilities Ensure Hygienic and Stable Treatment of Food

Pohang City is promoting the installation of a food waste treatment facility, starting with a public recruitment of candidate sites, to ensure the stable disposal of food waste generated within the city.

Aerial view of a food waste biogas facility similar case.

Currently, the city lacks its own treatment facility and entrusts all 159 tons of daily food waste to private companies in other regions for processing. However, with the enactment of the 'Biogas Act' in December last year, organic waste with high energy potential (such as food waste, sewage sludge, and manure) is now systematized to be produced and utilized as eco-friendly energy in the form of biogas, moving away from the past methods of simple composting or feed production. This has made owning a treatment facility even more urgent.

Pohang City has amended related ordinances to significantly expand resident support in the towns, townships, and neighborhoods where the facility will be installed, aiming to secure resident acceptance, the biggest challenge in facility installation. Since November last year, the city has begun site recruitment and is currently conducting feasibility studies on four candidate sites.

The city plans to disclose the site selection process and results to residents and gather their opinions once the study results are available in August. In the second half of this year, a strategic environmental impact assessment will be conducted to review and supplement any environmental risks caused by the facility, with the final site expected to be confirmed and officially announced around December this year.

The food waste biogas facility promoted by the city refers to a facility that selects foreign substances such as vinyl from collected food waste, finely crushes it, and inputs it into a sealed digester. The biogas produced during the fermentation process of the food waste inside the digester is then utilized as energy.

Unlike existing methods, biogasification does not involve drying the food waste but ferments it inside a sealed digester, fundamentally preventing odor generation. Additionally, preprocessing steps that emit odors, such as receiving, sorting, and crushing, are either underground or handled indoors within a double or triple sealed structure. The internal air is maintained under negative pressure, collected 24 hours a day, cleaned with chemicals, and deodorized before being released outside.

Furthermore, the digestate liquid (wastewater) generated during the food waste treatment process is entirely sent to a sewage treatment plant, where it is purified in conjunction with domestic sewage. When finally discharged into rivers or the sea, compliance with legal standards is monitored in real-time by higher authorities to detect any exceedances.

When food waste biogas facilities were first introduced in Korea over 20 years ago, there were trial-and-error experiences due to a lack of related technology and operational experience. However, it is now evaluated that the technology level has reached a stage where stable processing is possible.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Environment, 27 local governments nationwide are operating biogas facilities stably, and cities such as Seoul, Suncheon, Cheongju, and Gumi are promoting projects aiming for completion by 2026.

Among biogas facilities, those in Dongdaemun-gu in Seoul, Dongnae-gu in Busan, and Hwaseong-si in Gyeonggi-do are known to be located within urban areas adjacent to residential zones.

Pohang City is committed to improving residents' understanding and cooperation, considering it a prerequisite for project promotion even for eco-friendly facilities. The city is making efforts to build public consensus and deliver accurate and objective information through multiple briefings and visits to similar facilities.

Ko Wonhak, Director of the City’s Environmental Bureau, stated, “We will continue to strengthen communication with residents through future briefings and public hearings to dispel citizens’ concerns about the food waste treatment facility. We are striving to install a perfect facility with no environmental damage through thorough review and application of verified technology, and we ask for the understanding and cooperation of many citizens in the site selection of the biogas facility.”

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