Yeosu City Takes Active Steps to Extend the Usage Period of Manheung Landfill Site

Minimizing Resident Inconvenience and Preventing Damage to Yeosu City's Tourism Image

Full Effort to Extend Manheung Landfill Use Before the End of March

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Jeonnam Yeosu City announced on the 26th that it is actively negotiating with the Resident Support Council to extend the usage period of Manheung Landfill, which was promised to residents and is set to end at the end of March this year.

The city respects the promise made to residents around the Manheung Landfill, but considering the enormous social costs such as the cost of creating a new landfill and conflicts arising from selecting a new site, it believes that covering the landfill, which can be used for 17 more years, to create a park is administrative waste.

The Manheung Landfill was approved for installation in December 1994 with a waste disposal landfill capacity of 3.25 million ㎥. Landfilling began in 1997, and currently, 2.2 million ㎥ has been landfilled, using 68% of the landfill capacity. An additional 1.05 million ㎥ can still be landfilled, allowing use until 2037.

Initially, usage was expected until 2020, but the amount of waste landfilled sharply decreased after a food waste recycling facility was established in 2010 and an incineration facility in 2011.

Due to the waste pre-reporting system and restrictions on the import of waste wood implemented by Yeosu City since last year for resource circulation purposes, the amount of waste decreased by 56%, from an average of 158 tons per day to 69 tons compared to the previous year, and the landfill usage period is expected to be longer than 2037.

Additionally, Yeosu City operates the Manheung Landfill in an eco-friendly manner by conducting daily soil cover and transporting all leachate generated at the landfill to the sewage treatment plant.

Yeosu City has been actively explaining these changes in circumstances to resident representatives and collecting residents' opinions to extend the landfill usage period.

A city official said, “Many residents are worried that if the landfill usage ends after the end of March amid the anxiety caused by COVID-19, a garbage crisis abandoned in various parts of the city will cause inconvenience to citizens and damage the image of tourist Yeosu,” adding, “We will do our best to negotiate with nearby residents so that the landfill usage period can be extended for the benefit of all Yeosu citizens and achieve good results.”