Suncheon City’s Efforts to Find the Best Solution for the ‘Garbage Problem’

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do, announced on the 26th that it is making its best efforts to solve the garbage problem realistically beyond the recommendations of the ‘Suncheon City Garbage Problem Resolution Public Deliberation Committee’ (hereinafter referred to as the Public Deliberation Committee).

Since July 2018, the city has been listening to citizens' voices and seeking solutions to prevent a potential ‘garbage crisis’ caused by the suspension of operations at the Resource Circulation Center. Through public forum discussions, the city disclosed the problems honestly and operated the ‘Public Deliberation Committee’ for 100 days to solve the issues together with citizens, receiving a total of six recommendations from the committee.

The first recommendation was to ‘request an audit from the Board of Audit and Inspection’ or to ‘establish a special committee in the city council.’ However, it is impossible for the city to directly request an audit from the Board of Audit and Inspection according to its regulations, and establishing a special committee in the city council is beyond the city’s authority. The city explained this situation to the participating members of the Public Deliberation Committee at that time.

According to the Board of Audit and Inspection’s regulations on public interest audit requests, local governments can request an audit only if they do not have their own audit body or if there are unavoidable circumstances preventing them from conducting their own audit.

The second and third recommendations, ‘promoting administrative procedures to secure an alternative landfill site’ and ‘considering the introduction of reduction facilities,’ are also designated as priority projects by Suncheon City and are being actively pursued.

The city explained that it is gradually narrowing differences with citizens to overcome the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) phenomenon, which is the attitude of ‘not around my home.’

To raise awareness of the need for new waste treatment facilities and to eliminate the perception of these as undesirable facilities, last year the city conducted 17 visits with about 1,000 citizens to other local governments for benchmarking, and held 8 explanatory sessions with 1,050 participants at local institutions, organizations, and villages.

At the end of last year, a legally mandated site selection committee was formed and is currently operating, with plans to select a new facility site by the end of this year.

Another recommendation, ‘introducing a hub collection method to improve the efficiency of separate waste collection,’ will be piloted by installing clean houses in selected pilot neighborhoods in the first half of this year. After analyzing the results, the city plans to expand the system citywide.

The hubs will be managed continuously in cooperation with local autonomous organizations, and incentives such as profits from recycling sales will be provided. Additionally, to ensure smooth establishment of the system, resident promotion and guidance will be conducted alongside the installation of CCTV and warning signs.

A Suncheon City official stated, “We are taking all measures to ensure the normal operation of the Resource Circulation Center,” and added, “Recent opinions that the city is neglecting waste reduction policies to guarantee the center’s profits are not true. The city is making its best efforts to solve the problem.”

Meanwhile, Suncheon City, aiming to become ‘Korea’s No.1 resource circulation city by 2030,’ is discovering new policies together with the public-private council for solving the city’s garbage problem, which involves citizen participation. The city also plans to further improve citizen awareness by producing promotional videos and conducting campaigns so that citizens can easily learn and follow proper waste disposal methods.