Sejong, November 21 -On November 11, Vice Minister of Environment Yoo Je-chul visited Geosang Resources to inspect where the wastepaper was piled up. During his visit, the Vice Minister discussed ways to eliminate the pileup of wastepaper with local governments and related industries. His visit was to assess local governments' preparedness and hear recommendations from the industries under circumstances where demand for wastepaper decreased, and the average price of wastepaper dropped. 

Due to the recent economic downturn, the production of cardboard used in container boxes for numerous products decreased, and the demand for wastepaper also dropped accordingly. Thus, wastepaper stocks in wastepaper compression plants and paper mills are rising. The average wastepaper stocks are normally 70,000 to 80,000 tons. However, as of October 2022, the wastepaper stocks in domestic paper mills reached almost 150,000 tons. The average wastepaper price dropped 32% from KRW 151 per kilogram in 2021 to KRW 103 in 2022.

The Ministry of Environment is taking measures to eliminate the wastepaper pileup to prevent situations where waste collection companies refuse to collect wastepaper from apartment buildings and wastepaper continues to pile up in the paper compression plants. From October 21, the Ministry of Environment is stockpiling wastepaper in six-government-owned storage facilities (Yangju-si, Eumseong-gun, Anseong-si, Cheongju-si, Jeongeup-si, and Daegu), with a goal of storing about 19,000 tons of wastepaper. The ministry established cooperation with the local governments to prepare the situation when waste collection companies refuse to collect paper waste from housing complexes. The cooperation includes local governments' making precautionary plans to switch to an emergency collection system.

During the Vice Minister's visit, the Ministry of Environment explained the public stockpiling of wastepaper and its plans. The officials in charge of resource circulation in Gyeonggi-do provincial government explained how it was coping with the situation at the local government level. Representatives from wastepaper-related industries, including those from the Korea Paper Raw Material Recycling Cooperative, shared challenges in the field.

Yoo Je-chul, Vice Minister of Environment, said, "It is expected to continue the economic downturn at home and abroad and to require much time to recover demand for wastepaper. The Ministry of Environment will closely cooperate with local governments, paper manufacturers, and paper compression plants to prevent citizen's inconveniences." 

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