“The Real Challenge Begins After the Landfill Ban... Shift Needed from ‘Treatment’ to ‘Reduction’”

“The Road to Zero Waste: Resource Circulation Policy Through the Lens of the Budget”
National Assembly Policy Forum Held on the 30th

Prime Minister Minseok Kim and other attendees are taking a commemorative photo at the "Direct Landfill Ban on Household Waste Implementation Agreement Ceremony" held on December 2 at the Government Seoul Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul. From the right: Sungwhan Kim, Minister of Climate Energy and Environment; Jungbok Yoo, Mayor of Incheon Metropolitan City; Prime Minister Minseok Kim; Dongyeon Kim, Governor of Gyeonggi Province; Taekyun Kim, First Deputy Mayor of Seoul. December 2, 2025. Photo by Yongjun Cho

Although a direct landfill ban on waste has been implemented since January this year in the three metropolitan local governments of Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province, there are claims that the predominant incineration-focused policy responses by district offices and other authorities have significant limitations. Critics argue that simply banning direct landfill is not enough to solve the problem, and that a structural transformation encompassing waste reduction, climate action, and social equity is needed.

Hyein Yoo, Senior Activist at the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements, made these points in a presentation titled “After the Direct Landfill Ban: Shifting Waste Policy for Reduction, Climate, and Justice” at the policy forum “The Road to Zero Waste: Resource Circulation Policy Through the Lens of the Budget,” held at the National Assembly on January 30. Yoo emphasized, “The direct landfill ban is not the goal, but the starting point,” adding, “Current policies only change the method of waste treatment and do not sufficiently function to reduce waste generation itself.” The direct landfill ban is scheduled to be expanded to regions outside the metropolitan area by 2030.

Until now, South Korea’s waste policy has focused on “end-of-pipe” measures such as incineration and landfill. Even after the direct landfill ban, many local governments remain reliant on expanding incineration facilities, which in turn leads to significant financial burdens. Yoo pointed out, “Incineration facilities impose ongoing costs on local economies, not only in terms of construction but also long-term operation and community conflict,” and added, “Ultimately, these costs are passed on to local finances and citizens.” In reality, rising waste treatment costs are resulting in higher prices for volume-based waste bags and increased service fees.

Yoo also identified as a problem the fact that waste policy is being operated separately from climate policy. While incineration-centered responses may reduce landfill in the short term, they can simultaneously exacerbate issues related to greenhouse gas emissions and hazardous substances. In particular, increased incineration of waste plastics and composite materials may drive up carbon emissions, making it more difficult to achieve the 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Another key issue in post-landfill-ban policy is “social equity.” According to Yoo, the current structure forces local residents and vulnerable groups to bear the costs and environmental damage, rather than the companies that produce excessive packaging and single-use products. Yoo stated, “The waste problem is not just an environmental issue, but a problem of economic structure,” and argued, “As long as producers are not held responsible at the production stage, reduction is impossible.” She called for strengthening the effectiveness of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system and expanding regulations and cost burdens on single-use and excessively packaged products.

Yoo further stressed the need to reconsider the budget structures of both the central and local governments. Currently, a significant portion of the resource circulation budget is allocated to incineration and treatment facilities, while relatively little funding is directed toward reduction, reuse infrastructure, and policies that encourage citizen participation. She stated, “The core investment after the direct landfill ban should be in systems, not facilities,” and advocated for shifting the policy focus to reusable systems, local-level reuse infrastructure, and financial incentives based on reduction performance.

Yoo concluded, “The direction of waste policy is fundamentally a choice about the kind of economy we want to build,” and warned, “If we do not consider reduction, climate, and justice (social equity) together, the direct landfill ban will only result in additional costs.”

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