Eunpyeong, Seodaemun, and Mapo Districts Establish Stable Waste Management System Through Environmental Big Deal

Eunpyeong-gu Faces Concerns Over Damage Due to Suspension of Food Waste Delivery at Gangdong-gu Food Recycling Center... Urgent Need for Food Waste Treatment Facility in Eunpyeong-gu

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) generates about 69 tons of food waste daily, of which 20 tons are entrusted to a contractor at the public processing facility in Gangdong-gu Office, and the remaining 49 tons are entrusted to private processing facilities located in Goyang-si and Yangju-si.

Since Eunpyeong-gu does not have a food waste processing facility, it relies 100% on public processing facilities in other districts and private processing facilities.

In this environment with a high dependency on waste processing, recently, during the transition to direct management of the Gangdong-gu processing facility, conflicts arose between the contractor and the district office, resulting in a complete halt of food waste deliveries to the facility, making future deliveries uncertain.

The sudden suspension of deliveries has caused significant difficulties in food waste processing for seven districts, including Eunpyeong-gu, which had been using the facility.

Especially during the summer, when food waste generation is high, the suspension of deliveries could lead to hygiene issues and odors due to long-term accumulation of food waste, causing inconvenience to residents.

Accordingly, Eunpyeong-gu is promoting the construction project of the Eunpyeong Metropolitan Resource Circulation Center to establish a stable waste processing system through the Northwest 3 Districts (Eunpyeong-gu, Seodaemun-gu, Mapo-gu) Waste Environment Big Deal, aiming for stable processing of waste such as the implementation of the total volume system for direct landfill of metropolitan area landfill site household waste in 2020, and the termination of landfill deliveries to the metropolitan area landfill site by August 2025, as well as public processing of food waste.

The Waste Environment Big Deal is an innovative example of cooperative administration, inspired by the fact that neighboring Seodaemun-gu and Mapo-gu have metropolitan food waste processing and incineration facilities but lack public recycling sorting facilities. Eunpyeong-gu plans to build a metropolitan recycling sorting facility, while Seodaemun-gu and Mapo-gu will process the food waste and general waste generated in Eunpyeong-gu. This serves as a model case for other local governments struggling with a shortage of waste processing facilities.

In March, Eunpyeong-gu commenced the basic and detailed design service for the construction project of the Eunpyeong Metropolitan Resource Circulation Center. To sufficiently address residents' environmental concerns, the design details are transparently disclosed once a month on the Eunpyeong Metropolitan Resource Circulation Center Awareness website, and opinions from the resident participation advisory group and citizens are being reflected.

The design service will proceed for 10 months from the start date, with construction scheduled to begin in March 2021 and completion targeted for September 2023.

For Eunpyeong-gu, which has a high dependency on waste processing, the successful construction of the Eunpyeong Metropolitan Resource Circulation Center is expected to greatly help resolve unstable waste processing issues.

Once the facility is completed early, stable waste processing will prevent urgent crises caused by reliance on other districts.

A district official said, “We ask for the understanding and cooperation of residents so that the Eunpyeong Metropolitan Resource Circulation Center, a long-awaited project for Eunpyeong-gu without waste processing facilities, can be built smoothly and contribute to environmental improvement and welfare enhancement.”