Securing 'Temporary Transfer Stations' to Prevent Recycling Backlog During Extended Seollal Holidays

Special Management Measures for Household Waste During Lunar New Year Holiday from 8th to 17th

'Illegal Dumping of Waste' Intensive Crackdown
Strengthening Separate Collection at Multi-use Facilities such as Terminals and Rest Areas

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The government has secured temporary transfer stations for each local government to prevent public inconvenience such as collection delays in preparation for an increase in recyclable waste like gift packaging materials after the Lunar New Year holiday. Intensive crackdowns on illegal dumping of waste will also be conducted before and after the holiday.

The Ministry of Environment announced on the 4th that it will implement the "Special Management Measures for Household Waste during the Lunar New Year Holiday" from the 8th to the 17th.

An official from the Ministry of Environment explained, "This measure is characterized by local governments establishing preemptive congestion prevention plans, such as securing temporary transfer stations for recyclable waste. Each local government plans to educate and crack down on illegal dumping in habitual illegal dumping areas and major road sections within their jurisdiction."

As a result of last year's "Chuseok Holiday Waste Management Measures," 4,027 enforcement officers in 11 cities and provinces including Busan detected 5,721 cases of illegal dumping and imposed fines totaling 59.2 million won.

The Ministry of Environment, together with related organizations such as Korea Expressway Corporation and Korea Railroad Corporation, will promote waste separation guidelines focusing on multi-use facilities like terminals and rest areas, deploy cleaning personnel, and install mobile collection bins to strengthen separate collection management.

In particular, masks used by returning travelers will be guided to be taken home and disposed of in designated volume-based waste bags as much as possible, and separate collection bins will be installed if necessary.

To prevent collection delays of recyclable waste from apartment complexes collected by private companies, the Ministry plans to maximize sorting and processing of waste stored at public and private sorting centers within jurisdictional areas before the holiday through cooperation with local governments and distribution support centers, securing sufficient space for storage. Additionally, local governments nationwide have pre-secured 211 transfer stations capable of temporarily transferring 167,000 tons of recyclable waste by requesting maximum acquisition of temporary transfer stations.

For 10 autonomous districts in Seoul and Incheon where collection delays occurred due to congestion at sorting centers after last year’s Chuseok holiday, measures have been taken to immediately transfer waste to pre-contracted nearby waste crushing and processing companies if temporary transfer stations become saturated.

Moon Je-mwon, Director of Waste Resource Management Division at the Ministry of Environment, said, "Due to the special situation of COVID-19, more waste than usual is expected during the Lunar New Year holiday. Each local government will establish special collection measures, and especially for recyclable waste, we will focus on managing collection status to do our best to prevent public inconvenience such as collection delays."