Dump Site with Nearly 27 Million People’s Waste Generate to the World Public Entertainment Place +

Chhay Sophal

Incheon, South Korea (26 April 2024): Located about 35 kilometers east of Incheon International Airport, Sudokwon Landfill Site can load more than 5,000 tons of waste from three cities, including Seoul capital.

Everyday, about 350 waste trucks bring 5,500 tons of waste of more than 26 million inhabitants from Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi-do cities.

Under the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea, Sudokwon Landfill Management Corporation has shouldered the dump site in Incheon city since the early 1990s.

Starting to operate in 1992, Sudokwon Landfill Site got 40,000 tons of waste daily and it went down to 15,000 tons in 2014. But since the government set up the waste Reduction Policy in 2023, the waste has decreased to 5,500 tons per day.

With 64 million tons of waste buried between 1992 and 2000 and 7.2m height, Landfill Site 1 was closed and since 2013, it has diverted to a public golf course named Dream Park CC and used by some 160,000 people annually. The height of Site 1, however, is lower down about 2.4cm each year, Ms. Hong Seung Hee, Specialist of Sudokwon Landfill Management Corporation, told a group of journalists from different countries led by the Asia Journalist Association (AJA) at the site.

According to the Corporation’s report, the fee from the waste in 2023 only is about 116.6 billion won or US$ 80,110,000 in which about US$90 for domestic waste, US$43 for food waste water, and US$113 per ton for residual waste from construction sites.

Then, with 10 millions of planned trees around the constructed international standard golf course with hosting 36 holes located the upper Site 1 with 4.09 million square meters was selected by the 2014 Asian Games golf match and the US Women’s Open Championship. Since then, about 16 million people have visited the golf club each year.

The profit from the site was reinvested in the region through discussion with the local communities, Ms. Hong said adding that the communities have had benefit such as beloved city parks, wildflower garden, swimming pool, camping ground, soccer field, baseball park, futsal court and horse-riding course while the residents’ kids are also getting scholarship for their studies. Besides these, National Institute of Environmental Research, Korean Environmental Corporation, and Environmental Industry Research Complex also locate nearby.

Moving to Site 2 with 3.7 million square meters between October 2000 and September 2018, 5m-long layers was stacked 8 times to reach up to 40m height and it has not yet determined what to be used. However, nearly 700 pipes above the ground have been installed for gas collection and transport to a power plant nearby.

Even though the waste is becoming decreased, Sudokwon Landfill Management Corporation has preparing for Site 3 and it has progressed with 60%.

The dump site can also produce gas, electricity, fishery fertilizer, raw material for household goods, and raw material for cosmetics and medicine, said Young Min Kim, Vice President of Ecobio Holdings Co., Ltd. Running the dumpsite.

AJA is an international organization dedicated to the fulfilment of truthful and impartial reporting, the realization of press freedom and the advancement of journalism in close cooperation with journalists of Asia.