Jeong Daeun, Gwangju City Council Member, "Sharp Increase in Garbage Complaints"

City, 'Autonomous District Tasks' Neglected with Arms Folded
"Secure Budget for Additional Garbage Trucks if Needed"

Jang Da-eun, Gwangju City Council Member.

There have been reports that garbage collection in the Gwangju area is not being carried out on time, causing significant inconvenience to residents.

Jeong Da-eun, a member of the Gwangju City Council (Democratic Party of Korea, Buk-gu 2), criticized during the administrative audit of the Gwangju Climate and Environment Bureau on the 12th, stating, "Since July this year, local governments in the Gwangju area have sequentially removed the 'illegal footboards on cleaning vehicles' for the safety of sanitation workers, but instead, the garbage collection rate has sharply declined, leading to a surge in resident complaints."

Buk-gu, Gwangju removed all footboards from 13 recycling collection vehicles in the district last August. Although cleaning vehicle footboards are illegal under current law, local government sanitation workers have been modifying the covers of the cargo compartments for convenience when getting on and off the vehicles while collecting garbage piled up in residential alleys. Because of the nature of collecting garbage over short distances, boarding the footboards was unavoidable.

While the removal of footboards was an unavoidable measure for the safety of sanitation workers, it caused a significant drop in the amount of recycling waste collected in Buk-gu. In July, before the removal, the amount of recycling waste collected was 965,030 kg, but after removal in August, it decreased by 14% to 824,840 kg.

Garbage is piled up in the alleyway of Punghyang-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju. Photo by Buk-gu Office

Complaints from residents about garbage collection also increased accordingly. The number of garbage-related complaints received by the Buk-gu Office was ▲771 in 2022 ▲674 in 2023 ▲3,412 as of the end of September 2024, confirming an increase of more than five times compared to the previous year. Most complaints were about "garbage not being collected, causing unpleasant odors and decay."

Buk-gu is not the only district that removed cleaning vehicle footboards this year. It has been confirmed that Dong-gu and Seo-gu also removed footboards from their recycling vehicles. Similarly, in Dong-gu and Seo-gu, the recycling garbage collection rate significantly dropped after the removal of cleaning vehicle footboards.

Councilor Jeong criticized, "Even though it was predicted that removing the footboards from cleaning vehicles would increase the time spent getting on and off and sharply reduce the garbage collection rate, the Gwangju City government has done nothing but stand by without preparing countermeasures."

Jeong added, "Instead of drawing a line that cleaning work is the responsibility of autonomous districts, the city and districts should work together to solve the problem. They should assess the areas where garbage collection is insufficient by district and, if necessary, allocate budgets to increase the number of cleaning vehicles," urging for efforts to be made.