With the ban on direct landfilling of household waste in the Seoul Metropolitan Area taking effect this month, trash generated in Seoul is scattering nationwide to private incinerators. As long-distance out-of-region incineration becomes a realitysending waste not only to the nearby Chungcheong region but even to Gangwon Provincethere is criticism that the ‘principle of treating waste where it is generated’ has effectively collapsed.

According to reporting on the 6th, starting this year Gangdong District in Seoul is sending household waste generated within the district to private incinerators located in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, and in Sejong City. The processing unit price is about 170,000 won per ton, higher than fees at the Sudokwon Landfill (about 116,800 won per ton) and public incineration facilities (about 120,000 won per ton). Gangdong District plans to send 30,000 tons of household waste to the Chungcheong region by 2028.

Because the ban on direct landfilling has drastically reduced the function of the Sudokwon Landfill and the expansion of public incinerators is lagging, reliance on private incinerators outside the capital region is increasing.

Gangnam District in Seoul will also export part of its household waste to Cheongju in North Chungcheong Province starting this year. Gangnam has signed consignment contracts this year with five waste companies, including a private incinerator in Cheongju, to handle residuals from bulky household waste along with municipal waste placed in volume-based fee bags. Geumcheon District in Seoul has likewise joined the list of districts sending waste out for incineration. Beginning this year, Geumcheon will send household waste to three private companies in Gongju and Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, and Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, for processing.

Some Seoul trash is going to Gangwon Province as well. Mapo District normally incinerates all household waste at the public Mapo Resource Recovery Facility. However, during the roughly 40 days of annual maintenance, starting this year the waste generated during that period will be handled by a waste company located in Wonju, Gangwon Province.

Although the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment decided last December to allow exceptions for landfilling at the Sudokwon Landfill when waste treatment facilities are shut down, the district signed separate contracts with private incinerators because the actual landfill allowance at the site could not be gauged. A Mapo District official said, “If exceptional permission is granted, we can go to the landfill, but we cannot risk even the slightest chance of a garbage crisis, so we prepared double and triple backup measures.”

Other districts in Seoul are in a similar situation. Because there are no private incinerators within the city, districts are relying on private incinerators located on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province and in the Chungcheong region to handle household waste. Starting this year, Gangseo District has decided to entrust household waste to four private firms located in Siheung and Ansan in Gyeonggi Province

A Seoul city official said, “Among the 25 districts, 13 can handle all waste at incinerators within their jurisdictions, and the districts that have not found incinerator capacity or need supplementary measures are signing contracts with companies in other regions”

Trash from Gyeonggi Province is also crossing the capital-region boundary. Since the 1st, Goyang City in Gyeonggi has been sending municipal waste within its jurisdiction to a private waste company located in Eumseong County, North Chungcheong Province. The tentative volume of waste to be sent to private firms in Eumseong through June amounts to 15,400 tons.

An official at the ministry said, “There are cases where companies in the Chungcheong region sign private consignment contracts with local governments in the capital region. Most contracts are with firms in the capital region, but we cannot impose bid restrictions simply because a company is located outside the capital region.”

Although the ‘shuffling around’ via private incinerators has averted an immediate garbage crisis, side effects such as rising costs from private outsourcing and local conflicts are following. As the ‘treat-at-source principle’ wavers, the spark of conflict over building new public incinerators in the capital region is spreading to other areas. This is a structure in which residents of other regions bear the environmental burden and conflict costs arising from the capital region waste problem.

Hong Su-yeol, head of the Resources Circulation Economy Research Institute, said, “If the current private consignment becomes routine, profitability in the incineration market will rise, making it highly likely that capital such as private equity funds will actively jump into building private incinerators. The entities that should be responsible for the capital region waste problem will be absent, conflicts over siting incinerators will expand mainly in rural areas, and the burden on local residents may only grow.”