Recycling and waste-to-energy in S. Korea
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Xinhua, August 20, 2011
South Korea takes waste treatment and recycling very seriously. Its recycling system may look too complicated to outsiders, but the country boasts that this has contributed greatly to a cleaner environment and even turned waste from a burden to an asset.
In order to improve the overall quality of the environment in the country, the South Korean government implemented the volume- based waste fee system in 1995. The system requires every household to purchase specially designed plastic bags for waste disposal while the disposal of recyclables is free of charge.
The scheme seems to have offered multiple benefits: by charging fees according to the quantity of waste produced, not only do those who dispose of more garbage pay more, but there is also the effect of discouraging waste and maximizing recycling efforts.
Indeed, the pricing system has proven to be successful in South Korea's efforts to reduce waste. According to the Ministry of Environment, the amount of waste produced per person was reduced 26 percent from 1.33 kg per day in 1994 the year before the system came into effect to 0.99 kg per day in 2006. The recycling amount also significantly increased by 213 percent to 27, 900 tons per day from 8,927 tons per day.
So, here is the proper way to throw away garbage in South Korea. General waste, which covers basically all things that are not food waste, recyclable or too large to be thrown away, must be put into standard plastic bags that can be easily bought at local convenience stores or grocery stores and are available in different sizes. The same rule applies to food waste, which should be separated from household solid waste. In the case of over-sized waste that includes furniture, large appliances and other items that are too large to fit into general waste bags, discharge stickers must be purchase and affixed to them. Recyclables are required to be classified by paper, plastic, metal, and glass.
Garbage and recyclables left at designated places are picked up by local waste collectors employed by public or private enterprises, and then sent off to recycling centers or central collection facilities for further processing.
Dongdaemun Environmental Resources Center in Seoul is one of those places where garbage and recyclable materials find another use. It is a comprehensive waste treatment facility that processes different kinds of waste, including general waste, food waste, recyclables, and bulk garbage. "Dongdaemun Environmental Resources Center is the only facility that provides one-stop treatment for all types of domestic waste produced by human activities. What can be recycled gets recycled and what needs to be incinerated gets incinerated here," said Kang Seung-kun, general director of the Plant Environmental Business Division at Seohee Construction that manages the facility.
"Food waste sent to landfills causes odor as it decomposes, contaminates underground water, and leads to the generation of air pollutants. It is the facility that transforms food waste into a resource and can produce 20.4 megawatts of electricity that can be consumed by 2,500 households each living in a 34-pyeong apartment (1 pyeong is equal to 3.3 square meters) with four family members."
The facility processes 98 tons of food waste per day. Here, food waste gets converted into biogas, a type of clean fuel that can be used as power to heat buildings and even run vehicles.
The role of this facility is in line with South Korea's efforts to increase the use of biogas and other clean energy alternatives under the Lee Myung-bak administration that promotes a new development model that emphasizes so-called green growth.
Biogas is a by-product of a process called anaerobic digestion (AD). AD is a process where organic matter -- such as food waste -- breaks down in an environment with little or no oxygen, generating a natural gas made up mostly of methane and CO2. It is the exact process, in fact, which goes on in landfills. But there is a difference.
Whereas methane can be harmful to the environment in an open setting, such as a landfill, in controlled and closed settings such as a combined heat and power plant, it can be harnessed and converted into biogas, a renewable energy. And that energy can be used to provide heat, light and fuel.
At the center, biogas produced through the process of AD is burned to create electricity. The economic impact of this facility is quite phenomenal. The use of food waste as a resource can yield 600,000 kilowatts of electricity annually and reduces 24,402 tons of CO2, creating an economic impact worth 2.7 billion won (2.5 million U.S. dollars). "We doubted whether we could get energy out food waste," said Kang. "But it's been very effective and successful."
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