One day, I woke up and found a huge 'garbage mountain.' I don't even know where they came from or who stacked them up. It was a huge 'garbage mountain' full of waste clothing, construction materials, and dirt. The 'garbage mountain' is created not only on national roads but also in places where people are rare and hard to find.
It may be left there for several years at a long time. You have to find and throw away the abandoned person, but there is no CCTV and there are no witnesses. There is a way for local governments to use their administrative powers to clean up, but the citizens' taxes are reduced. It is difficult to clean up. This is the story of a garbage mountain problem in Ildae, Gyeongido that has been around since several years ago.
Hwaseong, Yeoncheon, Pocheon struggle with 'Garbage Mountains'
It is not only one or two places in Gyeonggi that somebody has thrown out extra-large waste and created 'garbage mountain.' There are five 'garbage mountains' there: Hyangnam-eup, Hwaseong-si, Cheongsan-myeon and Yeoncheon-eup, Yeoncheon-gun, Hwahyeon-myeon and Ildong-myeon, Pocheon-si.
These 'garbage mounts' have been left for years. Most of them were created from illegally-dumped waste between 2017 and 2018. The amount of garbage alone can range from as little as 78 tons to as much as 738 tons. Usually, the processing cost per ton of waste is 250,000 won. At least, it costs from 19.5 million won to 180 million won. This is why it is difficult to get rid of this 'garbage mountain' by local governments injecting taxes before catching illegal speculators.
Littering on the rare side of the road All of the places where 'garbage mountain' was born have in common: that they are under-populated places. The secluded national road is usually a dumping site. There are even “bold” illegal speculators who litter “garbage” on the grounds owned by military units. Finding those littered garbage is often not easy. Lee Jae-cheon, head of the resource recycling management team at Gyeonggi-do Environment Office, said, "Usually, when we go to find illegal dumping sites, we move in groups of 2 people. Even if you turn on the GPS and search for an address, there are no roads, and there are many places to go on foot, so at least two people should look around."
Gyeonggi-do organized a dedicated TF to end illegal dumping In order to deal with such 'garbage mountains.' it is necessary to first find the illegal speculators. After finding illegal speculators, the local government will issue an "action order" to clean up the 'garbage mountain,' and if it does not follow, it will take measures such as seizure. However, the problem is that it is difficult to find the illegal speculators. If the illegal speculators cannot be found, the municipality must clean it up. Naturally, people's taxes go into that process. After a certain period of time, the 'trash mountain' would be removed in the form of administrative execution, but it is not easy to secure a budget of tens of millions to over 100 million won. Naturally, 'garbage mountain' is left for several years. This is the reason why Gyeonggi-do made a dedicated team to respond.
Governor Lee Jae-myeong posted on Facebook: "Such acts (illegal speculation) are criminal acts that harm the aesthetics and cause environmental pollution and odor, but in essence also breaks the law and destroy the fair order. Gyeonggi-do is currently seeking illegal dumpers of these wastes, and will somehow trace them and blame them for their criminal activities."