South Korea will cut by half its disposal of waste and other materials at sea next year while also significantly reducing the size of the area where waste disposal is allowed, the government said Tuesday.
The move comes as the country is set to completely prohibit waste disposal at sea from the start of 2016 under its plan announced in 2012, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
South Korea has been given a special waiver from an international convention that prohibits waste disposal at sea.
In 2005, South Korea dumped 9 million cubic meters of waste and other materials at sea. The amount has been reduced steadily to 5 million cu. meters in 2009 and again to 500,000 cu. meters this year.
It will be further reduced to fewer than 300,000 cu. meters next year, the ministry said.
Under the 2012 plan, dumping animal or human excrement has been completely prohibited since the start of last year.
South Korea continues to allow the disposal of industrial waste water, dumping some 528,000 cu. meters of it this year, but the amount will be reduced to 300,000 cu. meters next year.
Along with the amount of waste disposed, the government will significantly reduce the size of the area where waste dumping is currently allowed.
Despite a continued reduction of waste disposal, the size of the designated area for waste dumping currently remains fixed at 7,937 square kilometers, over 13 times the size of the capital Seoul, the ministry said.
“The amount of waste dumped at sea currently stands at about
500,000 cu. meters, only about 5 percent of the 10 million cu. meters dumped in 2005, but the area of waste disposal has remained the same at 7,937 sq. kilometers, requiring an enormous amount of time and energy to be maintained,” the ministry said in a press release. (Yonhap)
