[Planning]⑧ Controversy over Circular Resource Recycling and the 'Hwangyeongjikimi'

History of the Cement Industry in Korea

Panorama of Hanil Cement Danyang Plant. It is widely known as an eco-friendly cement plant.
[Photo by Hanil Cement]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa]South Korea is the 12th largest cement-producing country in the world, with an annual production scale of about 60 million tons. In terms of cement technology, it has been recognized as an advanced cement nation, exporting production technology overseas since the 1980s. However, the public is not fully aware of the status of Korea's cement industry. Although it played a key role as a national infrastructure industry during the economic development period of the 1960s and 1970s, it became stigmatized as a polluting industry damaging the environment in the 2000s, causing it to fall out of public interest. Recently, the cement industry is undergoing a transition to an eco-friendly industry. This article series will re-examine the history of Korea’s cement industry, which is transforming from an ugly duckling into a swan, over 10 installments.

The cement industry has spared no investment in establishing eco-friendly systems such as waste heat power generation that comply with green corporate ethics and can generate long-term profits. Through this, it has worked to dispel the negative image of being a smokestack industry and is preparing for a second birth as an environmental guardian.

After the controversy over the harmfulness of cement made by recycling industrial waste was settled in 2008, the industry found its path through examples from Europe and Japan and accelerated its eco-friendly efforts. This approach involves solving environmental problems caused inevitably by mass production and mass consumption by treating waste and replacing raw materials and fuels with circular resources (recyclable waste).

Using industrial waste to manufacture cement is already common practice in advanced countries. The energy utilization of such waste resources has enabled efficient cost reduction. Based on overseas advanced cases, Korea began recycling circular resources starting with waste tires in the 1990s, and in the 2010s, this expanded significantly to include various by-products such as synthetic resins, coal ash, and sludge, broadening the scope of circular resource recycling.

Waste heat power generation turbine equipment installed inside a cement factory.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

The cement industry is a representative sector leading the construction of an environmentally friendly society in resource-poor Korea by utilizing various circular resources. However, the path toward becoming an eco-friendly industry through circular resource recycling has not been smooth.

Indiscriminate and malicious attacks from some parts of society, which advocate environmental movements but lack gatekeeping ability and fact-checking functions, have generated rumors and spread conspiracy theories, hindering progress. Through SNS (social networking services), baseless rumors have spread unchecked and have begun to be accepted as truth, causing side effects.

In 2008, 22 experts from the public, private, and academic sectors gathered to compare the situation with Europe and Japan, established standards through harmfulness investigations, and resolved controversies. Nevertheless, some parties claimed that experimental data from before the 2008 standards were exceeded when compared to recent standards.

Because of such claims, a laughable misunderstanding has occurred in reality where the majority of the public believes that cement made in China by recycling circular resources is made only from natural minerals.

For Korea to solve environmental problems and for the cement industry to fulfill its role as an eco-friendly industry like Europe and Japan, these indiscriminate and wasteful controversies must first be resolved. The ability to solve environmental problems is directly linked to national competitiveness.

Not only Europe but also neighboring China and Japan already recycle circular resources as raw materials and auxiliary fuels in the cement industry to address environmental issues. If Korea falls behind, the enormous social costs will ultimately fall on all of us. The harmfulness controversy is rare worldwide, yet such wasteful disputes continue uniquely in Korea.

Estimated Tax Burden in the Cement Industry. [Source=Korea Cement Association]

Since the late 2010s, the cement industry has faced managerial crises due to various quasi-taxes such as the proposed enactment of the local resource facility tax, the introduction of a safe freight vehicle fare system, and nitrogen oxide emission charges as it is classified as a fine dust emitting industry, in addition to the fundamental crisis of stagnant cement demand.

In particular, the proposed local resource facility tax legislation is a self-defeating move by local governments that, in an attempt to cover immediate tax revenue shortages, pressure hometown companies and sacrifice the future of the local economy. The industry is jointly responding to eco-friendly tasks such as transitioning to an eco-friendly industry through circular resource recycling, and the role of the Korea Cement Association, which serves as the central hub, is more important than ever.

Cement experts assert, "Unless an innovative building material emerges in the near future, cement, which is an economical and high-quality building material available in large volumes, cannot be replaced." Therefore, the social perception that prematurely labels the cement industry as a declining industry due to sluggish construction markets is inappropriate.

A representative of the Korea Cement Association emphasized, "It is unlikely that a building material as economically viable as cement will appear. Judging the cement industry as a declining industry is a misjudgment. Cement has been reborn as a clean industry and is doing its best to perform new roles that contribute to solving environmental problems."