An Era Where Discarded Waste Wood Becomes Profit!... Geumcheon-gu Saves 100 Million Won in Waste Wood Sales Budget

Geumcheon-gu Signs Agreement to Sell Discarded Wood Waste... Reduces Disposal Costs and Secures New Tax Revenue, Saving 103 Million KRW... Recycles as Renewable Energy to Support Carbon Neutrality and Address Climate Crisis

It has become an era where waste wood, once discarded at a cost, now generates revenue.

Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yu Seong-hoon) announced that this year it will save 103 million KRW in budget and practice carbon-neutral administration by selling waste wood to companies that recycle it into solid fuel.

Until now, the district has collected waste wood such as furniture discarded as large waste and paid processing fees to disposal companies. Over the past five years, 16,000 tons of waste wood have been collected, with processing costs reaching 170 million KRW.

At the end of last year, the district signed an agreement with Misong Environmental Industry to sell 2,700 tons of waste wood annually at 20,000 KRW per ton for recycling as fuel. This resulted in a total saving of 49 million KRW in waste wood processing costs and the discovery of new tax revenue of 54 million KRW from sales proceeds, securing a total of 103 million KRW in district funds.

The district collects waste wood and transports it to the recycling facility, then to the processing site of the contracted company. The contracted company converts the collected waste wood into wood chips and supplies them as alternative fuel to fossil fuels at power plants and other facilities. By removing foreign substances such as vinyl, plastic, and general waste from the waste wood and converting it into easily combustible wood chips, it can be recycled as an eco-friendly energy source with low harmful gas emissions.

In addition to waste wood, the agreement also includes timber waste generated from street tree pruning and fallen leaves in autumn, which were previously processed for a fee but are now handled free of charge, further reducing the budget.

Yu Seong-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, “This agreement has achieved a triple effect of carbon neutrality, budget savings, and securing tax revenue,” and added, “We will continue to promote waste recycling projects to reduce discarded waste and preserve the environment.”