Sejong, November 21 - From November 14 to December 16, the Ministry of Environment (Minister Han Wha-jin) and leading farming organizations will collect agricultural waste, such as plastic agricultural films and pesticide containers left in rural areas after harvest. According to the agreement signed among the concerned organization, including Korea Environment Corporation, Korea Saemaul Undong Center, and Korea Rural Leaders' Central Association, the ministry will prioritize collecting agricultural waste in vulnerable areas and guide local farmers on how to dispose of agricultural waste properly. 

Moreover, the ministry plans to have situation rooms at eight regional headquarters and two branch offices of Korea Environment Corporation during said period to monitor continuously how agricultural waste is collected. These situation rooms will support private outsourcing collection companies. The situation rooms will also manage agricultural waste brought into the regional waste collection centers via joint waste collection centers of villages. The ministry will award a total prize of KRW 10 million to local governments and branches of Saemaul Undong Center that showed excellent achievement in collecting agricultural waste.

The private sector avoids collecting plastic agricultural film with foreign substances because of their low recycling profitability. The Ministry of Environment will build facilities to recycle plastic agricultural film to dispose of agricultural waste more effectively to solve the issue. The ministry operates 9,145 joint waste collection centers for villages so that small-sized towns and those with older people can easily dispose of agricultural waste.   

The Ministry of Environment plans to increase the number of joint collection centers to 13,000 by 2026 to collect agricultural waste stably. To encourage the collection of more plastic agricultural film, the Ministry of Environment will pay more compensation for the collected waste from KRW 10 per kilogram this year to KRW 20 next year. The ministry will also increase the compensation paid to farmers. Currently, the ministry compensates for a waste of 217,000 tons, but it will increase to 225,000 tons next year. Through such measures, the ministry encourages local governments to use the resources made available by such expanded state funding for the further collection and disposal of plastic agricultural waste, such as seeding plates.

Jung Soen-hwa, Director-General of the Resource Circulation Bureau, said, "The Ministry of Environment plans to collect more agricultural waste in cooperation with farming organizations during the collection period." She added, "The Ministry of Environment also expects local governments to establish plans for collecting agricultural waste in line with the 4th Fine Dust Seasonal Management program schedule from December 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023."

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