Can Incheon’s Self-Landfill Site Gain Momentum?…Residents’ Opposition and Tightening Political Pressure

Ongjin-gun and Yeongheungdo Residents "Site Selected Without Consultation" Protest
Democratic Party Landfill Special Committee Proposes Simultaneous Review of Yeongheungdo and Seongapdo
People Power Party Demands Re-selection Through Alternative Landfill Search and Attraction Contest

The area around Oeri, Yeongheungdo, announced by Incheon City as a candidate site for its own landfill (Incheon Eco Land)
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City has not made any progress in creating its own landfill site for waste. The residents of Yeongheungdo, Ongjin-gun, who were announced as the candidate site, continue to oppose it, and the local political circles are tightening the pressure on Incheon City by proposing different solutions from both ruling and opposition parties.

According to Incheon City on the 1st, the city decided to build a new waste landfill facility (Eco Land) exclusively for Incheon waste in preparation for the closure of the metropolitan landfill site (Seo-gu, Incheon) in 2025, and announced Yeongheungdo as the candidate site last November. The plan is to invest 140 billion KRW by 2024 to establish Eco Land on Yeongheungdo and then landfill incineration ash and non-combustible waste there.

However, the city faced backlash for selecting the candidate site based on research results without prior consultation with Ongjin-gun or Yeongheungdo residents.

Residents are concerned that adding another nuisance facility to Yeongheungdo, which already suffers from a thermal power plant, will cause environmental destruction and worsen traffic congestion, negatively impacting the living environment. Above all, Ongjin-gun, the county council, and local lawmakers unanimously oppose the landfill site creation, citing a lack of transparency in the selection process of Yeongheungdo as a landfill candidate site.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has stepped in to mediate the local conflict and recently concluded about two months of activities through a special landfill committee at the Incheon City Party level. The committee recommended that Incheon City also consider Seongapdo, another island in Ongjin-gun, as a potential landfill site along with Yeongheungdo.

The committee stated that the city should strengthen measures to enhance resident acceptance and review the site feasibility by comparing the pros and cons of the two candidate sites as waste landfill locations.

First, Yeongheungdo has the advantage of having few houses within a 1 km radius around the landfill site, but it was found that an alternative to land transportation is needed since waste transport vehicles pass through Siheung and Ansan in Gyeonggi-do before reaching Yeongheungdo.

The committee pointed out that solutions such as maritime transport or construction of a second Yeongheung Bridge are necessary, and that economic feasibility and the possibility of nighttime transport should also be examined.

Heo Jong-sik (second from the left), chairman of the Landfill Special Committee of the Incheon City Party of the Democratic Party of Korea, held a press conference at the city party office on the 24th of last month to announce the results of the special committee's activities.
[Photo by Democratic Party of Korea Incheon City Party]

Seongapdo is an uninhabited island, making it suitable for public use, and it has the advantage of being able to utilize a closed aquaculture farm (200,000㎡) and damaged aquaculture farm area (50,000㎡) as landfill sites without environmental damage. However, concerns were raised about disruptions in waste transport due to weather conditions such as fog and typhoons.

Huh Jong-sik, chairman of the landfill special committee and Democratic Party lawmaker for Dong-gu and Michuhol-gu Gap, held a press conference at the city party office on the 24th of last month, stating, "The landfill special committee actively supports Incheon City's proactive efforts to secure its own landfill site," and added, "It seems desirable to decide on the landfill site between Yeongheungdo and Seongapdo by reinforcing measures to increase resident acceptance."

Incheon City plans to review the committee's investigation results and announce its position on the landfill site selection soon.

However, it is reported that the city holds a skeptical stance toward Seongapdo, newly proposed by the committee as a landfill site.

Seongapdo is known as a habitat for endangered wild flora and fauna and a treasure trove of outstanding geological landscapes such as columnar joints, so there is a high possibility that environmental impact assessments will face obstacles. Additionally, the procedure for reclaiming public waters alone takes several years, making it difficult to establish a new landfill site before the 2025 closure of the metropolitan landfill site.

Meanwhile, the People Power Party opposes Incheon City's plan to create its own landfill site.

Lee Hak-jae, chairman of the Incheon City Party of the People Power Party, argued that Incheon City should prioritize finding an alternative landfill site to replace the current metropolitan landfill site together with Seoul and Gyeonggi-do.

Chairman Lee pointed out, "If Seoul and Gyeonggi-do do not each create their own landfill sites, it will be impossible to end the use of the current metropolitan landfill site with only Incheon's own landfill site," and warned, "If things go wrong, Incheon may landfill its waste in its own landfill, while Seoul and Gyeonggi continue to landfill their waste in the current metropolitan landfill site located in Incheon, which would be the worst-case scenario."

He added, "If an alternative landfill site is created, Incheon City should naturally use that alternative site and does not need to build its own landfill," and proposed, "Let's hold a public debate in front of 3 million citizens on which plan is more rational and realistic between this plan and Mayor Park Nam-chun's plan."

Baek Jun-young, a lawmaker from the same party representing Incheon Jung-gu, Ganghwa, and Ongjin, criticized the candidate site selection process for the new landfill site as having many procedural problems and urged Incheon City to completely reconsider its plan to create its own landfill site.

Lawmaker Baek said, "It is unacceptable that Yeongheungdo, which was not included among the eight candidate sites in the 2017 research, was announced as the top recommended site last November," and insisted, "The site should be reselected through a public recruitment process to increase resident acceptance."

He continued, "Even if Incheon creates its own landfill site, if it cannot reach an agreement with other parties such as Seoul, Gyeonggi, and the Ministry of Environment in the 'four-party landfill council,' it may have to extend the use of the current metropolitan landfill site," and emphasized, "Even now, the landfill issue should be resolved through an agreement in the four-party council composed of the current administration and Democratic Party-affiliated local leaders."

Incheon City declared the end of use of the metropolitan landfill site in 2025, citing severe environmental damage to residents of Seo-gu around the landfill site and the 2015 agreement of the four-party landfill council.

The four-party council agreed to transfer land ownership of the metropolitan landfill site to Incheon City in exchange for extending the landfill use period, originally set to end in late 2016, until the closure of Section 3-1 (1.03 million㎡) around 2025.

However, the annex to the agreement includes a clause allowing the use of an additional 15% of the remaining site (Section 3-2, 1.06 million㎡) if an alternative landfill site is not secured by the closure time, leading Seoul and Gyeonggi-do to claim extended use based on this and causing conflict.