Gyeonggi-do Improves Days of 'Unhealthy' Fine Dust PM2.5 Concentration... Achievements in Seasonal Fine Dust Management Policy

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[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] It has been revealed that air quality in Gyeonggi Province has significantly improved due to the implementation of the fine dust seasonal management system.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 21st that the implementation of the '3rd Gyeonggi Province Fine Dust Seasonal Management System' from December last year to March this year improved the concentration of ultrafine dust and the number of bad air quality days compared to the same period last year.

During this seasonal management period, the ultrafine dust concentration in Gyeonggi Province was 26㎍/㎥, which decreased by about 10% (3㎍/㎥) compared to the 2nd seasonal management system (December 2020 to March 2021) at 29㎍/㎥. It also decreased by 33% (13㎍/㎥) compared to before the seasonal management system (December 2018 to March 2019) at 39㎍/㎥.

Among cities and counties, Yeoncheon-gun showed the highest improvement rate, decreasing by 16% from 25㎍/㎥ in the 2nd period to 21㎍/㎥ in the 3rd period.

In terms of days by grade, the number of 'Good' days increased by 1 day from 30 days during the 2nd seasonal management period to 31 days compared to the previous year. The number of 'Bad to Very Bad' days decreased by 4 days from 34 days to 30 days during the same period, indicating an improvement in the index perceived by residents.

The province believes that the improvement is due to a combination of factors including the implementation of the seasonal management system, weather conditions, and improvement in fine dust concentration in China.

During this seasonal management period, the province selected and implemented 16 reduction measures across six major sectors: transportation, industry, daily life, health protection, information provision, and cooperation.

Key results include the transportation sector, where 44,010 cases (13,153 vehicles) were caught violating the restriction on operation of grade 5 vehicles, and fines will be imposed on all vehicles except those temporarily exempted.

Additionally, 390 public construction sites with budgets over 10 billion KRW were instructed not to use old construction machinery. Special emission inspections were conducted on about 80,000 vehicles in areas with dense traffic and spaces frequented by sensitive groups, including exhaust measurement, video monitoring, and idling checks. Administrative actions included improvement orders and recommendations for 15 violating vehicles and guidance for 1,912 cases.

In the industrial sector, large facilities such as incinerators and power plants were focused on voluntary compliance checks, while 4,252 small and medium-sized facilities were inspected for proper operation of prevention facilities and neglect or damage, resulting in 271 violations detected. To save energy, 924 public institutions were checked for compliance with appropriate indoor temperatures, and winter appropriate temperature campaigns and promotions were conducted.

As a daily life measure, the frequency of street cleaning vehicles was increased on major roads and roads with severe fine dust to create clean roads. To prevent the burning of agricultural by-products such as rice straw and chili stalks, which are traditionally burned in agricultural fields, shredding support was provided and a concentrated waste collection period was operated to actively encourage collection.

A provincial official stated, "Despite unfavorable conditions such as population, automobiles, and businesses as sources of fine dust emissions, ultrafine dust is improving through active participation of residents and local governments in Gyeonggi Province," and emphasized, "We will analyze the effects of the seasonal management system tasks and improve and supplement the next 4th seasonal management system to do our best to protect residents' health and improve air quality from fine dust."

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