+ BACKGROUND, CHALLENGES AND OBJECTIVES

Background
In Korea, the economic development of the 1960s prompted an increase of waste as well. Waste was used as landfill at housing sites in suburban areas. Nanji Landfill opened in 1978, and waste was simply thrown away.

Through rapid development, Seoul was able to hold the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Olympics on its way to becoming an international city. However, it was faced with internal problems in waste management (such as the near-capacity Nanji landfill) which was becoming a society-wide problem. In response to this, the SMG established a 'Basic Waste Disposal Plan' in 1991, and planned the construction of major incineration facilities.


Challenges

1) Local Resident Opposition to Construction of Incineration Facilities
From the planning stage, opposition to the incineration facilities had been strong from the majority of people as they were understood to create pollutants including dioxin. During construction, residents living nearby complained that their property values were decreasing and the environment was being contaminated. Due to the strength of the opposition, questions were also raised as to why the SMG was building the facilities, rather than having the 25 districts build their own facilities.  

Much time was spent resolving the disputes with residents. During this time, public attention shifted to recycling. A total of 14 years (1992 ~ 2005) was spent for the construction of four facilities, and there have been 396 instances of opposition from nearby residents. This opposition was usually in the form of group demonstrations (67%), while the rest was through documents. The main complaints varied from fundamental disagreement with the construction itself or changes to plans such as relocation, capacity reductions, and related to installation of strict pollution control facilities.


1.1) Solutions
Residents have enjoyed long-term and regular medical check-ups. Seoul has begun running pollution-controlling facilities, limited traffic and monitored the material coming in as waste. While these efforts are to track the health of nearby residents potentially affected by dioxin and other toxins from the incineration facilities, they also help with objective evaluation of the environmental impact. This enables the SMG to confirm the safety of such facilities, resolve resident concerns, and find solutions when negative impact does occur. Investigations are in 3 areas: air quality assessment (environmental impact), assessment of dioxin and heavy metal in blood stream (impact on human body) and assessment of the overall physical and mental health of residents (health impact). Fixed research groups, volunteers and facility employees undergo body and health examinations. Recently, examinations have been only on the fixed research group, while additional pollutants such as dioxin in the atmosphere or black carbon density were added to monitoring. Assessed items, methods and targets are decided upon agreement with the resident consultative group. The 10th examination was conducted in 2014, and none have shown any negative impact on the environment, the body or health.


2) Incineration Facility Installation & Management - Duties & Costs
Seoul has been divided into 25 local districts for administrative convenience. Composing physical boundaries for this reason is done all over the world. However, the boundaries act against securing sites for disliked facilities such as waste landfills or incinerators. It might be easier for each district to have its own facilities, but disputes will arise, as the size will be reduced, along with efficiency. Reduced size also hinders operational stability and the effectiveness of pollution prevention devices. 

This is why metropolitan governments, rather than regional districts, install and operate large-scale waste disposal facilities such as incinerators or landfills. Tokyo (Japan), London (England), and Paris (France) operate the same way. Another common factor is that local districts take care of waste collection, transportation and recycling in many metropolises including Seoul. This is because local districts may have more direct contact with residents so it is easier for them to ask for cooperation than it is for the metropolitan government, meaning they can be more effective in collecting waste.  

Although the governments of local districts and metropolises clearly have different roles, the demands and location need to be flexible enough to include the views of the local districts. In particular, it is desirable for local districts to determine the facility location and capacity and the districts that will share the facility. This is because the local district governments, rather than the metropolitan government, can better understand its own residents and specific needs for waste management. For example, it took seven years for the Gangnam Facility to be designed and completed because disputes continued over both capacity and location, even after construction has started. On the other hand, the Mapo Facility took only about three years because the districts had all decided the capacity and the location.


Objectives
This aims to maximize waste treatment to minimize the amount disposed at landfill sites, install a suitable number of waste disposal to maximize the resource recovery rate, minimize creation of toxic materials during the incineration process, and improve safety for local residents. Lastly, it is designed to coordinate on supplementary facilities with local residents to improve welfare. 

+ ACTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION

Actions and Implementation

1960~1985: General waste disposed at local landfill sites

1978~1993: Waste disposed at Nanji landfill site

1986: Mokdong incineration facility begins operations

1991: Seoul City - Basic Waste Disposal Plan established

1992~2005: 4 resource recovery facilities constructed

1993: Waste disposed at capital area landfill site

2007~2010: 4 resource recovery facilities - sharing agreements signed


1) Shared Incineration Facilities
There are four incineration sites in Seoul: Yangcheon Facility, Nowon Facility, Gangnam Facility and Mapo Facility. These all operate within the city of Seoul (with a capacity of at least 400 tons a day).
 
The original plan was to build 11 incineration facilities to handle 16,500 tons of waste per day, but only four facilities have been constructed. Construction started in October 1992, and the first one to be completed was the Yangcheon Facility in February 1996. This was followed by Nowon in January 1997, Gangnam in December 2001, and Mapo in May 2005.
 
Construction of the Yangcheon Facility began in December 1992, and was finished in February 1996. It has a capacity of 400 tons per day, with 2 incinerators that each process 200 tons. Construction of the Nowon Facility also began in December 1992 and finished in January 1997. It has a capacity of 800 tons: two incinerators that can process 400 tons each per day. Construction of the Gangnam Facility started in December 1994 and finished in December 2001. It has a capacity of 900 tons per day, the largest of the four facilities, and its three incinerators can each process 300 tons per day. Construction of the Mapo Facility began in December 2001 and completed in May 2005. The facility has three incinerators, each of which can handle 250 tons per day, for a total capacity of 750 tons.


2) Construction of New Towns & Cooperation with Incineration Facilities & District Heating
Cities in Korea developed rapidly over the last 60 years. The suburbs were developed as residential areas to accommodate the population influx from the rest of the country. Yeouido (1967) and Yeongdong (1967) were developed in the 1960s. In the 1970s, Jamsil (1971) was developed to disperse the concentration in Jongro and Junggu. In the 1980s, Gaepo (1981), Godeok (1981), Mokdong (1983) and Sanggye (1985) were all developed as large-scale residential areas.

During the construction of these “new towns”, 2 incineration sites were secured where the Yangcheon Facility (May 1983, construction decided in Mokdong New City Development Plan) and Gangnam Facility (January 1986, city facility decided as waste disposal facility) were built. The other two incineration facilities have undergone similar situations. The Mapo Facility was constructed in the World Cup Park, part of the Sangam Housing Area which began construction in 2000. The Nowon Facility was assigned as a waste disposal facility in December 1977, before the Sanggye area was developed in 1985.

As this shows, construction of incineration facilities connected to new town development makes it easier to find sites for those facilities, and reduce opposition from local residents. Moreover, utilizing the heat from incineration as energy for district heating is another benefit of connecting the construction of incineration facilities with new town development. District heating began in Lockport, New York, U.S.A in 1877, and spread to other parts of North America, Europe and Japan. In Korea, the first such approach was a feasibility study on remodeling of the Seoul Thermoelectric Power Plant into a cogeneration plant to provide heat to Yeouido, Dongbuichon and Banpo in 1981.

The actual start was in Mokdong and Shinjeongdong, which provided heat to 20,000 houses. After the first and second oil shock, interest in energy efficiency was high in the 1970s. In 1987, remodeling of the Seoul Thermoelectric Power Plant into a cogeneration plant was determined. In 1989, a district heating scheme was decided for Ilsan and 4 other cities. Along with this trend, the 4 incineration facilities in Seoul could also be connected with district heating facilities. Yangcheon-gu provides heat to 140,000 homes, and the incineration heat ratio for district heating is 16%. Nowon provides heat to 128,000 homes at a 23% rate, and Gangnam to 176,000 homes with a 27% incineration heat ratio. The Mapo area shows the highest incineration energy rate, as much as 57%. Heat is provided to 70,000 homes.  



District Heating & Incineration Facility Locations
https://seoulsolution.kr/en/content/6561


In other words, all four incineration facilities in Seoul have district heating facilities, providing heat from waste incineration. The heat recovered makes up 16-57% of the energy used for district heating.


3) Management of Environmental Pollution
MSW processing emits a variety of pollutants through incinerators, storage systems and transport vehicles. The pollutants include foul odors, dust, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen chloride, sulfur oxides, and dioxin. 

Dioxin, in particular, was a cause of concern in the early 1990s around the world once the stories came out of soldiers exposed to defoliants during the Vietnam War, and their children who suffered from it. Waste incineration facilities were known as a major source of dioxin.

As a result, people began questioning incineration methods, and concerns arose among neighboring residents regarding environmental safeguards. In response, the SMG has put in place facility installation and operating measures to protect against environmental harm.

The gas emission report in 2017 showed that all four facilities emit less than half of the allowable limit for some substances, and 1/10 ~ 1/1,000 of the limit for others, suggesting that emissions are strictly controlled.

+ OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS

Outcomes and Impacts

Energy Reduction

The low-heat value of MSW brought into the incineration facilities in Seoul is 2,762 kcal per kg. The facilities can recover about 74% of the heat generated from incineration. Part of this heat is used in operations, and most of the remaining is sold to neighboring district heating facilities. Energy sales recorded before facility-sharing was 561,411 Gcal, increasing to 1,269,336 Gcal in after the facilities began shared operations.

Before facility-sharing, about 52,000 households got their heat and hot water from recovered energy. Once sharing began, recovered energy was provided to more than 50,000 additional households for heat.

Utilizing heat from incineration also has significant meaning in terms of the environment. The heat from incineration can be used for water and homes, leading to a reduction in LNG consumption. CO₂emissions are also reduced, leading to a reduced greenhouse effect. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions was recorded as 27,000 tons less before sharing and 60,000 tons less after sharing. This is equivalent to the annual emissions from 540 buses in Seoul.



Comparison of Energy Substitution Effect of District Heating, Before & After Facility-Sharing Agreements 
https://seoulsolution.kr/en/content/6561

+ REPLICABILITY AND SCALABILITY

Replicability and Scalability
Modern waste management consists of three steps: First, the amount of waste is restricted through recycling and reducing. Second, waste that is generated goes through energy recycling or is recycled as a future resource. Finally, any waste remaining can be safely disposed of through incineration or as landfill.

Total amount of waste and total amount of recyclable waste that must be incinerated or buried need to be estimated with an overall balance in mind.

During its time of rapid growth, Seoul first considered incineration as the most appropriate way to reduce use of landfill sites, rather than reducing the total amount of waste. However, the volume-based waste fee (VBWF) system in 1995, the extended producer responsibility (EPR) program in 2003, and the ban on food waste going directly into landfill helped reduce the overall amount of waste, thus reduced the city’s dependence on incineration and landfill.  

+ BUDGET AMOUNT

Budget Amount
USD 336.5 million