Daegu Dyeing Complex Tenants Exceed Odor Standards by 8-15%... Daegu City Designates 'Odor Control Area'

Crackdown on 127 Dyeing Companies

Operations Suspended if Standards Exceeded

Daegu City has initiated the procedure to designate the Daegu Dyeing Industrial Complex, which has been generating numerous complaints due to odor problems amid urban development in the Seogu area, as an odor management zone.

Daegu City has been implementing air quality improvement policies, such as focused replacement support for outdated air pollution control facilities, to address the odor issues in the dyeing industrial complex in line with the development of the Seodaegu Station area. As a result, emissions of air pollutants have been reduced by approximately 87%.

However, it was judged that these efforts were insufficient to create a living environment that meets citizens’ expectations. Therefore, the city plans to designate the dyeing industrial complex as an odor management zone to strengthen regulations on odor emissions from odor-emitting facilities.

Daegu Dyeing Industrial Complex.

The dyeing industrial complex was established in 1980 and currently houses 127 textile dyeing companies operating within it. According to the 2020 odor status survey by the Korea Environment Corporation, the odor from the dyeing industrial complex was found to have a widespread impact extending to residential areas.

Additionally, odor inspections conducted by the Daegu Seogu Office from 2020 to 2023 revealed that 8 to 15% of the businesses exceeded odor emission standards annually. Since September last year, complaints demanding odor resolution have been continuously raised, especially by residents of newly occupied apartments, prompting the push to designate the area as an odor management zone to strengthen odor control measures.

In accordance with Article 6 of the Odor Prevention Act, Daegu City plans to finalize and announce the designation of the Daegu Dyeing Industrial Complex as an odor management zone in May, after collecting and reviewing opinions from local residents and stakeholders through public notices on the Daegu City and district/county websites in April.

Once designated as an odor management zone, businesses operating odor-emitting facilities within the industrial complex must submit installation reports for odor-emitting facilities within six months from the official designation date and take necessary odor prevention measures within one year according to the odor prevention plan. If odor emission standards are exceeded, stricter administrative actions such as suspension of operations will be applied.

Since January, Daegu City has been operating a special odor task force (TF) composed of odor experts and practitioners to focus administrative efforts on odor improvement in the western and northern regions. To incorporate odor reduction policies based on impact assessments and source investigations of affected areas, the city requested the Ministry of Environment to conduct an odor status survey by the Korea Environment Corporation from April to December this year.

Ji Hyung-jae, Director of the Environmental and Water Resources Bureau of Daegu City, stated, “By designating the dyeing industrial complex as an odor management zone, effective management of businesses will be achieved, contributing to the improvement of residents’ living environment.” He added, “Along with strict odor management reinforcement, we will continue to support odor reduction technology and improvements to air pollution control facilities at the businesses.”

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