Mayor Yum Tae-young Stands on Front Lines of 'War Against Garbage' as Illegal Dumping Continues

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-sung] "This is literally a 'war against garbage' taking place. It seems we need to intensively deploy monitoring personnel at locations where illegal dumping frequently occurs to strengthen management and oversight, and review effective methods to guide residents toward proper garbage disposal."

At 7 a.m. on the 19th in a densely-packed one-room apartment area of Weoncheon-dong in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Suwon Mayor Yum Tae-young inspected an illegal dumping site and busily sorted unseparated recyclable garbage alongside Weoncheon-dong staff and residents.

Throughout the alley were cardboard boxes and plastic containers mixed with incinerator waste. A banner reading "Pay-as-you-throw bags not used, mixed recyclables will absolutely not be collected" hung above heaps of garbage, yet disregarding the warning, piles of improperly discarded waste remained everywhere.

Since February, the city has been implementing a strong residential waste reduction policy and no longer collects garbage that has not been properly sorted or has been illegally dumped. Most of the garbage accumulated in the Weoncheon-dong one-room apartment area on this day was not collected because it failed to meet collection standards.

When Mayor Yum opened a large plastic bag filled with garbage during the work, an array of unseparated refuse spilled out—plastic wrap, plastic containers with food residue, tin cans, and more. CD players and lighters were mixed in. The types varied widely. "Delivery garbage"—including shipping boxes, plastic containers, plastic wrap, and ice packs—was most abundant, along with wet towels, plastic cups with remaining coffee, and flower bouquets.

Mayor Yum inspected four illegal dumping areas and sorted garbage for approximately 40 minutes, yet with about ten people working together, each location required roughly 10 minutes due to the volume of waste.

Mayor Yum Tae-young said, "I can see that some residents tried to separate recyclables by type and dispose of them together, but it appears some engaged in illegal dumping because there are no proper sorting collection points," adding "There is a need to install 'eco-stations' (temporary collection sites with sorting facilities) in areas densely packed with one-room apartments and single-family homes."

An environmental management officer at the site said, "It appears we recovered approximately 300 liters of garbage per location today."

Yun Jae-chun, the chief representative of Weoncheon-dong's 19th district who participated in the work, lamented, "Today was relatively manageable," but "Even after distributing promotional materials explaining proper sorting methods to residents of one-room apartments, illegally dumped garbage continues to accumulate daily."

From February 22 to March 29, the city conducted sampling inspections on residential waste brought to resource recovery facilities and imposed "residential waste incineration suspension" on districts that supplied garbage below collection standards—a strong waste reduction policy.

After implementing the reduction policy, incinerable garbage brought to resource recovery facilities decreased, while recyclable garbage brought to resource recycling centers increased.

Before sampling, incinerable garbage sent to resource recovery facilities (incinerators) averaged 455.9 tons per week (February 15-21). By the fifth week of the initiative (March 22-28), it decreased to 405.2 tons—an 11.1% reduction. Recyclable garbage brought to resource recycling centers (sorting facilities) increased from 247 tons before sampling (February 15-21) to 284 tons in the fifth week (March 22-28)—a 15% increase.

District chiefs, representatives, and group members from 44 districts visit homes to guide "proper recyclable waste sorting methods" and regularly organize chronic garbage accumulation sites alongside environmental management officers.

The city plans to continue implementing residential waste reduction policies. It will distribute promotional materials on proper recyclable waste sorting to all households and plans to increase enforcement personnel and CCTV cameras for illegal dumping monitoring. Additionally, the city will pilot 'eco-stations' (temporary collection sites with sorting facilities) in several districts before expanding the program.