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Newsletter | November 2015, Issue 3
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ENVIRONMENT
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Korea’s Environment Ministry Relaxes Recycling Approval System and Curbs Hazardous Waste Control
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On July 20, 2015, the revised Waste Control Act was enacted. With certain exceptions, this revised law relaxes the current recycling approval system to promote the recycling of waste materials. The revised law will become effective on July 21, 2016.
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Under the current law, recycling of waste materials is only possible through the 57 types of recycling purposes/methods provided for in the statute. Since the use of new recycling technologies generally required government evaluation and revisions to the law, this restricted recycling activities. Moreover, the Ministry of Environment ("MOE") had an inadequate system for examining waste material hazards and for managing follow-up examinations. This has made it difficult to effectively prevent environmental contamination resulting from recycling processes.
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To address the above issues, the MOE revised the Waste Control Act to allow the use of new technologies to recycle waste materials without the need to amend the statute, as long as the new practice conforms to the environmental protection principles and standards. The following is a summary of the key revisions to the Waste Control Act.
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1. Categorization of Waste Material Types and Recycling Classes
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By systematically establishing and regulating recycling standards, the revised Waste Control Act has categorized waste materials by their type, and has categorized recycling class based on their source, composition, harmfulness, among others. Such categories are designated by the lower regulations of the Waste Control Act.
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2. Recycling of Waste Materials Generally Permitted
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To prevent environmental contamination during the recycling process, the revised statute also sets forth new recycling rules and requirements, which restricts/prohibits the recycling of certain waste materials (e.g., asbestos, medical waste), and designates specific prohibitive thresholds regarding, among others, air pollution emissions, and soil/groundwater contaminations.
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3. Recycling of Waste Materials Requiring Environmental Evaluation & MOE Approval
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Based on an evaluation of the environmental effects, certain types of recycling activities require MOE approval. For example:
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The recycling practice where a waste material above a certain amount is placed in contact with soil, groundwater, surface water to form cover materials, construction fill, road base materials, ; and
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The recycling of waste materials for which no recycling rules or requirements exist requires MOE approval based on MOE’s environmental assessment:
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A review of how such a recycling practice affects (or could affect) human health and the environment;
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An assessment of how the harmful effects could be avoided; and
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The suitability of the recycling technology.
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