Incheon's Yeongjong-gu District (District Chief Son Hwa-jung) announced on the 13th that it has drawn up comprehensive measures to root out the chronic local problem of illegally and long-abandoned waste and is moving to implement them in earnest.
 [The Korean Today] Site of a Green Start environmental cleanup on District Chief Son Hwa-jung's first day in office © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
The idea is to move away from the after-the-fact approach of belatedly collecting waste that has already accumulated, and instead build a comprehensive management system that systematically surveys areas where abandoned waste occurs, carries out swift and focused cleanups, and prevents recurrence through cooperation with owners and managing institutions.
The measures are aimed at faithfully carrying out District Chief Son Hwa-jung's top campaign pledge for the 9th popularly elected term — the cleanup of abandoned waste — and the district plans to speed up efforts to resolve the problem by strengthening inter-departmental cooperation centered on the recently formed 'Yeongjong International City Environmental Cleanup Task Force (TF).'
The district first plans to conduct a full inspection of areas prone to abandoned waste, such as vacant lots, idle land, land reserved for development and roadsides within its jurisdiction, to determine the location, scale and type of waste as well as land ownership and management responsibility. Based on the survey results, the district plans to systematically manage the sites by dividing them into areas requiring immediate cleanup, areas requiring action by land owners or managing institutions, and areas where waste is habitually and repeatedly dumped.
Among these, sites that cause direct inconvenience to residents' living environment or where large amounts of waste have piled up will be designated as 'priority cleanup sites' for swift cleanup, while for sites where the land owner or managing institution has been identified, appropriate disposal will be arranged promptly in accordance with relevant laws.
 [The Korean Today] Working-level meeting on swift cleanup of abandoned waste © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
In addition, the district plans to build a close cooperative system with related institutions that manage major land and facilities within its jurisdiction, including the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority, the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), Incheon International Airport Corporation and Incheon Metropolitan City Urban Development Corporation, to jointly respond to abandoned waste problems arising in each institution's management zones. To prevent cases in which waste is left unattended for long periods due to unclear management responsibility, the parties will share on-site information, and in areas with frequent complaints or habitual recurrence of abandoned waste, will carry out joint inspections and swift action.
Once cleanup is completed, the district also plans to pursue follow-up measures such as installing facilities to prevent illegal dumping, putting up notices and banners, and stepping up patrols of vulnerable areas, to prevent waste from piling up again at the same sites. Through this process, the district intends to press ahead with on-site-focused environmental cleanup that is swift and responsible rather than one-off, so that residents can tangibly feel the change in their urban environment.
District Chief Son Hwa-jung said, "We recognize the problem of abandoned waste in the Yeongjong area as a major issue directly linked to residents' living environment." She added, "Rather than simply clearing away trash, we will carefully consider the causes of the problem and the characteristics of each area, and work closely with land owners and managing institutions to devise and carry out fundamental measures to prevent recurrence." She went on to stress, "As this may take some time depending on on-site conditions, such as unclear land ownership or management responsibility, or the need for coordination between institutions, we will resolve the abandoned waste problem step by step through continuous and systematic management."
[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]
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