Strategies for Developing Responsive Solid Waste Management in Seoul City : Institutional Arrangement

Abstract

The solid waste problem surfaced with the industrialization in 1960' s in Seoul City. Before that time the solid waste was merely a trivial issue so that divisions such as Police Bureau, Social Affairs Bureau, and Health and Sanitary Bureau in the Metropolitan Government, which seem rather irrelevant, used to handle solid wastes as well as night soil in addition to their major duties. Citizens used to practice complete recycling according to the Korean tradition until 1950' s. The economic development in the Republic of Korea was accomplished mainly in the manufacturing industry, which resulted in the movement of rural population to urban areas. In 1988, the urban population reached to 78 per cent of the national total from 20 per cent three decades before. And the population is so centralized to the Capital Area that one fourth of the national total population live in Seoul City and 40 per cent in the Capital Area which includes Incheon City and Kyungki Province which holds many satelite cities of Seoul. This urbanization together with the change in life pattern accompanied by the industrialization suddenly brought forth the solid waste problem. The solid waste generation reached to the level of 2.83 kg/capita-day, which is the world's largest, and the City spent 73 billion wons to dispose 11 million tons of wastes in 1989. Since the waste dumping is getting very difficult due to limited space available, the solid waste became one of the main urban problems the City faces at the moment.