Gyeonggi Province Launches 30g Daily Waste Reduction Project with KRW 1.5 Trillion Investment

Gyeonggi Province is taking steps to reduce household waste in response to the ban on direct landfill disposal in the Seoul metropolitan area.

On April 29, Gyeonggi Province announced that it will invest KRW 1.5447 trillion over the next five years, until 2030, to implement the "30g a Day: Resident-led Household Waste Reduction Project."

First, the province will expand infrastructure to bring the waste separation and recycling environment in detached houses and commercial areas up to the standard of apartment complexes. Currently, the per capita volume of recyclable waste separated in apartment complexes in the province is 219g, while in detached houses, it is only 68g.

Accordingly, this year, Gyeonggi Province plans to install 130 household waste collection facilities in 13 cities and counties, including Yongin. By 2030, this will be expanded to 750 locations.

These collection facilities are designed to support waste separation by installing collection bins in waste collection areas. Gyeonggi Province will introduce a "responsible management system" by assigning dedicated managers to these facilities. Additionally, three leading separation areas will be selected each year for pilot operation, with successful cases to be shared more widely.

Furthermore, more than 380 "Clean Waste Disposal Monitors" will be deployed on-site annually to eliminate blind spots for illegal dumping and mixed recycling, while intensively promoting correct disposal methods.

In areas with high concentrations of foreign residents, Gyeonggi Province plans to distribute multilingual information leaflets through 13 foreign resident centers in the province to address mixed waste disposal issues arising from cultural differences.

In addition, the province will evaluate apartment complexes based on increases in recyclable sales volume and the contamination rate in pay-as-you-throw garbage bags, select outstanding complexes, and provide incentives to individual households.

The use of reusable containers, which began with public institutions, will be expanded to the private sector. Gyeonggi Province will introduce reusable containers at six public funeral halls under Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center in Suwon, Uijeongbu, and other locations, and will further expand this to large private funeral halls, delivery apps, and local festivals.

At the same time, to ensure that separated recyclables translate into economic benefits for residents, the list of rewardable items will be expanded from batteries and paper packs to include glass bottles and synthetic resins.

Gyeonggi Province's Campaign Poster for Reducing Daily Waste by 30g

The province will also modernize waste treatment facilities. By 2030, Gyeonggi Province aims to increase the capacity of public incineration facilities from the current daily 4,973 tons (actual processing volume: 3,888 tons) to 6,359 tons, and the daily processing capacity of public recycling sorting centers (Resource Recovery Centers) to 1,553 tons.

In addition, the number of biogas facilities converting food waste into renewable energy will be increased from four to five.

Cha Seongsu, Director of Climate, Environment and Energy at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "The core of this project is for Gyeonggi Province to directly upgrade waste separation infrastructure to the level of apartment complexes and establish a reward system in which recycling becomes profitable, helping residents naturally achieve the goal of reducing 30g of waste per person per day."

According to Gyeonggi Province, the daily waste generated in the province amounts to 5,497 tons. Of this, excluding recycling and other methods, 4,322 tons are disposed of through incineration or landfill. The problem is that, considering the actual processing capacity of all public incinerators in the province is 3,888 tons, there is a daily surplus of 430 tons of waste. The province expects that this daily 30g waste reduction project for residents will serve as an effective solution for handling the excess 430 tons.

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