Push to Install GPS on Garbage Trucks Faces Strong Backlash as "Human Rights Violation"

Gwangju Gwangsan-gu Household Waste Collection and Transportation Innovation Project Promotion

District: "Building Data Management System... Aim for Efficient Reorganization"

Concerns Over 'Monitoring' Amid Existing Conflicts with Facility C

Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, is pushing forward with a project to install GPS devices on cleaning vehicles but is facing strong opposition. The plan aims to increase efficiency by installing equipment that measures the amount of waste collected in designated bags to reduce uncollected areas, but some voices are raising concerns about serious human rights violations due to location data collection.

According to Gwangsan-gu on the 13th, the district has been carrying out the "Data-Based Household Waste Collection and Transportation Work Innovation Project" since November last year, following a government public contest, with a budget of 600 million KRW. The core of the project is to install equipment that measures the amount of designated waste bags collected using edge AI on the rear of collection vehicles (20 vehicles planned).

This equipment records real-time collection routes using GPS devices and a miniature 1-inch camera (14mm macro lens), capturing images of designated waste bags to estimate and measure their weight and volume.

Currently, the project is in the research and development stage commissioned to Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, and it is expected to undergo pilot operation in the first half of next year before full implementation.

The purpose of the project, according to officials, is to improve the current situation where the amount of waste generated in the 19 cleaning jurisdiction areas varies greatly, causing significant workload imbalance among sanitation workers. Since the process of assigning jurisdiction areas is sometimes sarcastically referred to internally as a 'luck-based game,' the plan is to build a data management system to efficiently reorganize collection routes.

Additionally, the project aims to encourage adherence to work safety rules, such as boarding the vehicle step safely, and to use the data as objective basic information for future workforce expansion and additional vehicle deployment.

However, some employees of the Gwangsan-gu Facilities Management Corporation have expressed resistance, feeling as if they are under constant 'digital surveillance.' They voice concerns about 'monitoring,' 'human rights violations,' and 'employee intimidation.'

Under current law, collecting location information from workers requires individual consent. If even one of the 60 sanitation workers operating the 20 designated waste bag collection vehicles does not agree, the project will inevitably have to be scaled down.

The district has held meetings and project briefings to prevent such situations and reconcile differences, but opposition remains strong.

In 2019, the corporation itself installed GPS devices on collection vehicles without employee consent, which led to collective backlash and the project was ultimately abandoned. Therefore, the situation is being closely monitored ahead of the full-scale project launch.

Moreover, the controversy over Gwangsan-gu’s 'special audit' and allegations of 'covering up drunk driving' by the Facilities Corporation have escalated into mutual accusations between the two organizations, creating uncertainty about potential fallout and adding to the burden.

A district official stated, "We will make efforts to smoothly carry out the project through continuous project briefings, sharing the technology development process, and consultations with corporation employees."

He added, "We expect to build consensus and gather unified opinions because the innovation effects, such as resolving complaints about waste odor through data collection and analysis and solving the unreasonable workload imbalance among sanitation workers, are anticipated."

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