Gyeonggi Province Implements City and County-Linked Policy on Residential Waste Reduction and Recycling Activation

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] Gyeonggi Province has decided to share the 'Residential Waste Reduction and Recycling Activation Policy' currently being pursued by the province with cities and counties and embark on full-scale cooperation efforts.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 31st that it has prepared a 'Gyeonggi Province Residential Waste Reduction and Recycling Activation Implementation Model' consisting of 15 policies across 4 sectors and plans to deliver it to cities and counties by next month.

According to the Ministry of Environment's 'National Waste Generation and Treatment Status,' residential waste generation in the province increased by approximately 6.9% from 11,605.3 tons in 2017 to 12,406.1 tons in 2018, due to population increase and increased use of single-use products.

In such circumstances, some cities and counties have experienced cases where private companies contracted with apartment complexes to collect recyclable materials have refused to collect waste vinyl and waste paper citing deteriorating profitability. This reflects the vulnerable structure in the utilization of recyclable materials.

The province explained that it has prepared this model to jointly pursue active waste reduction policies with cities and counties following the implementation of the so-called 'Inbound Volume Limit System,' which restricts the amount of residential waste that can be brought into the Sudokwon Landfill this year.

The 'Gyeonggi Province Residential Waste Reduction and Recycling Activation Implementation Model' prepared by the province classifies current projects being pursued by the province and future plans at each stage from waste generation to treatment into 15 policies.

Specifically, it will be promoted through 15 detailed tasks across 4 sectors: ▲Reducing residential waste generation (single-use product reduction) ▲Activating recycling ▲Strengthening education and publicity ▲Expanding recycling infrastructure.

By sector, to reduce residential waste generation, the province will strengthen actual condition surveys and inspections of single-use product use and promote pilot projects for establishing living habits that do not use single-use products.

Policies for strengthening actual condition surveys and inspections include ▲Conducting and disclosing surveys on single-use product use semiannually targeting public institutions within the province such as Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Province Council ▲Strengthening joint public-private inspections targeting businesses with high single-use product use through operation of single-use product surveillance personnel.

The pilot project promotion for establishing living habits includes ▲Amending ordinances to support individuals and groups that contribute to reducing single-use product use ▲Introducing multi-use containers and cleaning facilities in the funeral hall of Gyeonggi Medical Center Icheon Hospital ▲Continuously promoting campaigns not to use unnecessary single-use products such as spoons, straws, and wooden chopsticks in delivery food ▲Activating reuse by collecting ice packs discharged from homes through fresh food delivery and supplying them to traditional markets, etc.

Secondly, to activate recycling, the province will ▲Strengthen operation of recycling product collection facilities such as recycling village squares and joint collection bins in connection with Happy Village management offices ▲Build separate collection systems for specific recycled products such as colorless PET bottles ▲Strengthen public management systems for recycling product collection and sorting ▲Conduct pilot operations on material recycling of specific waste resources such as plastic films ▲Expand public procurement of recycling companies and recycled products.

Thirdly, to strengthen education and publicity, the province will ▲Conduct education on reducing single-use product use and proper waste separation for general citizens ▲Promote concentrated publicity and campaigns targeting citizens to practice resource circulation.

Finally, to expand recycling infrastructure, the province will ▲Expand and modernize public recycling infrastructure such as recycled product collection and sorting centers ▲Operate recycled product stockpiling centers to respond to emergency situations such as suspension of recycling product collection.

Eom Jin-seop, Head of the Environment Bureau of Gyeonggi Province, said, "Through the promotion of this 'Residential Waste Reduction and Recycling Activation Policy' and comprehensive provision of information for spreading across cities and counties, policy cooperation between the province and municipalities is expected to be further strengthened, and we will be able to prepare in advance for situations of excessive waste generation after COVID-19." He added, "Since we plan to develop diverse policies in the future and implement incentives targeting excellent cities and counties, we request the active participation and cooperation of field cities and counties for activating the policies."