A recent agreement made by three regional governments and the Environment Ministry on the extended use of a landfill site is welcome as a rare case to overcome the not-in-my-backyard syndrome permeating our society.
Under the accord reached after six months of negotiations, the Incheon city government will allow waste from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to continue to be dumped in its landfill for a decade to come. The landfill, which has taken household rubbish from the Seoul metropolitan area with a population of 23 million since 1992, was set to close by the end of next year as it was expected to be filled by then.
Residents living near the site and regional environmental groups have opposed the extended use of the dumping ground. They are advised to accept the agreement, which is realistically inevitable as candidate sites have yet to be found for another landfill. They might also show more flexibility as less than half of the landfill in Incheon has been filled so far, as the amount of household waste has been reduced by the implementation of a nationwide volume-rate disposal system, which requires residents to use designated garbage bags.
About 48 percent of trash dumped daily at the landfill is from Seoul, with 34 percent coming from Gyeonggi Province and the remaining 12 percent from Incheon.
Together with the Environment Ministry, Seoul and Gyeonggi Province promised to provide financial benefits to Incheon in return for the extended use of the landfill site. The promises ― including the handover of the land ownership worth 1.8 trillion won ($1.6 billion) and the right to collect waste commission fees worth 120 billion won a year ― should be kept without fail.
Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok seemed to have accepted the agreement partly due to the need to ease the city’s financial predicament. As of the end of 2014, Incheon was saddled with 4.8 trillion won in debt after hosting the Asian Games earlier in the year. The city’s debt-to-budget ratio reached 37.5 percent, the highest level among metropolitan cities and provinces across the country.
It would be unfair to criticize the mayor for taking into account such financial needs in cutting the deal with Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. His critics should suggest better ways to settle the city’s debt problem.
Along with the central government, Yoo’s counterparts in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province need to help implement measures aimed at improving the environment surrounding the landfill site and boosting the economy of the western port city.
Their agreement should serve as an example of regional governments settling discord over the location and operation of unwanted public facilities. Under the accord, however, Seoul and Gyeonggi Province are required to build their own landfill sites within their boundaries by 2025. The NIMBY syndrome should be overcome once again in the process.
