Sejong, October 25 - The Ministry of Environment (ME, Minister Han Wha-jin) announced that it would enforce public stockholding of waste paper from October 21, 2022, to June 2023. The ministry will transfer waste paper piled up in waste paper compression plants and paper mills to public storage. The initiative is to prepare for circumstances where the paper would not be recycled and accumulates since the demand for waste paper as a raw material used in papermaking has decreased in tandem with paper production.

Generally, waste paper is collected and compiled at waste paper compression plants and then undergoes a compression process for sale to paper mills or export. Due to the recent global economic downturn, domestic and international demand for waste paper has significantly decreased, resulting in waste paper piling up in waste paper compression plants and paper mills. In particular, if waste paper collection companies cannot accept more paper due to a lack of storage space, waste collection companies may refuse to collect waste paper from apartment buildings, necessitating preventative measures.

To prevent further stockpiling, the Ministry of Environment will store approximately 19,000 tons of waste paper in six government-owned storage facilities (Yangju-si, Eumseong-gun, Anseong-si, Cheongju-si, Jeongeup-si, and Daegu) for nine months. In addition, the ministry provides waste paper-related industries with financial support for storage and transportation. In the interim, the ministry has continuously built six public storages to prepare for the collection backlog, capable of storing 35,000 tons of recyclables, including waste paper. In addition, since last year, a public-private waste paper supply and demand management committee composed of paper manufacturers, the raw material industry, and experts has operated a cooperative system regarding the supply and demand of waste paper.

The Ministry of Environment will strengthen its cooperation with local governments against the situation when a waste paper collection company refuses to collect paper waste. On October 14, the Ministry of Environment held a video conference with local governments nationwide to review each region's waste paper collection status and discuss a cooperative system for emergency preparedness. At the meeting on the same day, the ministry discussed ways to eliminate the backlog, including the abolition of public stockpiling, not only at the government level but also at the level of local governments. The ministry requested that each local government prepare a response plan to minimize inconvenience to the public by switching to a collection system centered on local governments in the event that waste paper collection becomes too difficult.

Jung Seon-hwa, Director-General of the Resources Circulation Bureau, said, "We will take preemptive measures to prevent public inconvenience due to refusal to collect waste paper."  She added, "The Ministry of Environment would like to request the public's active cooperation in separating and disposing of substances that are hardly recyclable, such as corrugated cardboard tape and parcel stickers, to the greatest extent possible."

Contact: Kwak Jeong-gyu, Deputy Director

Municipal Waste Management Division / +82-(0)44-201-7427

Foreign Media Contact: Chun Minjo(Rachel)

+82-(0)44-201-6055 / rachelmchun@korea.kr