South Korea Korea revises the types of information provided when disposing of waste from business sites

To strengthen regulations

Korea revises the types of information provided when disposing of waste from business sites

On January 7, 2022, South Korea Ministry of Environment published and simultaneously enforced the amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Wastes Control Act, which includes the expansion of the types of information regarding the site that must be submitted when processing waste from business sites to cover location and video information. As a result of the amendment to the Enforcement Decree, those who collect, transport, recycle, or dispose of waste from business sites (hereinafter referred to as business waste treatment entities) are required to enter location and video information into the electronic data processing program in addition to the measured quantity of the waste at the time of acceptance and handover of the waste. The entering of information other than the measured quantity will be required from October 1, 2022 for construction waste, from October 1, 2023 for designated waste, and from October 1, 2024 for other business sites.

For those who collect or transport waste from business sites, it is necessary to enter the real-time location information of the vehicle as confirmed by satellite navigation system (GPS). For those who recycle or dispose of waste, it is necessary to enter the quantity measured at a weighing facility as well as the video information obtained from the video data processing equipment installed near the weighing facility and at the storage facility. The business waste treatment entities must always inspect and regulate the waste treatment site information transmission equipment to ensure that it is working properly, and if it is not working properly, must take measures to normalize it immediately.

The Enforcement Decree also includes measures to encourage the recycling of waste such as coffee grounds. Coffee grounds can be recycled into products such as wood plastic composites, wood pellets and wood chips if they comply with the standards and quality criteria for wood products announced in accordance with Section 1, Article 20 of the Act on the Sustainable Use of Timbers. Furthermore, fuels made by processing wastewater treatment sludge can be used not only in thermal power plants but also in combined heat and power plants provided that the amount is within 0.5% of the total fuel usage.

On the other hand, some standards related to the treatment of waste, such as collection and transportation, have also been relaxed. In order to facilitate the collection of coffee grounds and animal residues, the collector/transporter of such waste will be able to first collect the waste in a vehicle with a lower loading capacity and then transport it to a temporary storage area for transfer to a larger vehicle.

In the case that collection and transportation entities that are capable of transporting waste by rail or sea use railway vehicles or ships to collect and transport waste, the issuance of temporary vehicle collection and transportation certificates valid for up to six months will be permitted for railroad vehicles and ships. In addition, in order to solve the mismatch between the period when large amounts of coal ashes are generated and the period when demand from cement manufacturers is high, the storage capacity of the storage facilities was expanded from a maximum of 30 days to 180 days of recycling capacity per day, and the processing period was extended from a maximum of 30 days to 180 days.

 

The original text of this article can be viewed at the following URL (in Korean).
http://me.go.kr/home/web/board/read.do?pagerOffset=0&maxPageItems=10&maxIndexPages=10&searchKey=&searchValue=&menuId=10525&orgCd=&boardId=1500360&boardMasterId=1&boardCategoryId=&decorator=

Enforcement Decree of the Wastes Control Act (Ministry of Environment Decree No. 965)
https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsInfoP.do?lsiSeq=239327&viewCls=lsRvsDocInfoR#

Author / Responsibility

YAMANOUCHI Kengo

Senior Research Associate, Research & Consulting Dept. EnviX Ltd.

Business Performance

In charge of South Asia (India, Bangladesh, etc.), South Korea, Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, etc.) and Turkey for managing infomation on the environmental regulations

Background

MA, Environment, Development and Policy, University of Sussex

YAMANOUCHI Kengo