Exceptionally Permitted Direct Landfill of Metropolitan Waste During Maintenance Period... 163,000 Tons Allowed

The metropolitan landfill site will allow limited acceptance of municipal solid waste from the Seoul metropolitan area during maintenance periods for public incineration facilities.

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced on March 22 that, together with the three metropolitan local governments, it has set an annual exceptional direct landfill allowance of 163,000 tons due to the shutdown of public incineration facilities. Starting March 23, waste will begin to be accepted at the metropolitan landfill site.

An excavator at the metropolitan landfill site in Seo-gu, Incheon is reloading incinerated waste ash onto a dump truck. / Photo by Seunghwan Noh todif77@

This allowance was finalized following a resolution by the Operating Committee of the Metropolitan Landfill Management Corporation. The committee, which consists of officials from the ministry, representatives from local governments in the metropolitan area, and resident representatives from affected areas, reviews the types and volumes of waste to be accepted, as well as landfill fees.

Since January 1 of this year, direct landfilling of municipal solid waste has been fundamentally prohibited in the metropolitan area. However, in unavoidable situations such as disasters or shutdowns of waste treatment facilities, exceptions for direct landfill are permitted in accordance with relevant notices.

The government explained that this decision aims to minimize the processing gap caused by maintenance of public incineration facilities and to reduce reliance on private outsourcing.

The allowance of 163,000 tons is about 31% of the average direct landfill volume over the past three years (2023–2025), which was 524,000 tons. During the maintenance period, the three metropolitan local governments must reduce direct landfill by 10% compared to the recent three-year average (181,000 tons), and the reduction rate will be gradually increased going forward.

The allowance by region is 82,335 tons for Seoul, 35,566 tons for Incheon, and 45,415 tons for Gyeonggi Province.

Kim Goeung, Director of Resource Circulation Policy at the Ministry of Climate, stated, "We will ensure strict management so that municipal solid waste in the metropolitan area is processed stably even during the maintenance period for public incineration facilities."

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