[단독]When I cleared the’Uiseong Garbage Mountain’… 7000 tons of garbage came out

It was found that the size of the so-called’Uiseong Garbage Mountain’, which has been disgraced by the international community, exceeds the original estimate. When I took out the trash, it made up a mountain with almost 200,000 tons of trash, not the predicted 192,000 tons.

An official in Uiseong-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, said on the 21st, “The size of the trash that made up a mountain of trash through surveying was calculated as 192,000 tons, and the trash was removed based on that basis. I have confirmed that there is more left.”

The garbage mountain is full of plastic, styrofoam, electric wires, vinyl, and scrap metal. From June 2019, Uiseong-gun began to clear up garbage piles by spending 28 billion won, including government expenses, as an administrative agency. The goal was to completely clean up this month. However, with more unexpected waste coming out, disposal costs are likely to be much higher than expected.

“There is no additional budget support from the Ministry of Environment. We are doing our best to clean it up”
An official in Uiseong-gun said, “The Ministry of Environment said that it would be difficult to support the waste disposal budget anymore. Therefore, we are doing our best to complete the arrangement within this month within the maximum allowable budget.”

Garbagesan in a rural village in Danmil-myeon, Uiseong-gun, was reported by CNN in March 2019. CNN’s report team reported on the absurd scene in which a mountain was formed in the form of a tower filled with garbage such as waste on the side of the village. At that time, there were places where the height of the garbage pile was over 15m.

According to Uiseong-gun, these garbage piles were neglected by the owners of Company A, who ran a waste disposal company. From June 2016 to July 2018, they carried 90 times the amount of waste (2157 tons) that had been approved several times across the country, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gyeongbuk, and Chungnam, on the site and left them unattended.

When the owners and others made the garbage mountain without countermeasures, the military took administrative measures several times. Waste disposal orders and prosecutions followed and fines, fines, and fines followed. It even revoked the interim recycling business permit for the operation of the workplace. However, even after the cancellation of the permit, the waste remained. Each time, the company expressed resentment by dissatisfied with the disposition and filed an administrative lawsuit and suspension of execution, Uiseong-gun explained.

As time passed, odors vibrated from the garbage accumulated on the 40,000㎡ site. There are also times when the pressure from the accumulation of garbage caused a fire and did not extinguish for several days. There is a Nakdong River near the business site, and there is concern about environmental pollution.

Eventually, Uiseong-gun, with the help of the Ministry of Environment, began to clean up the trash by executing an administrative agency, and the prosecution investigation continued. At the time, when the garbage pile was neglected, the business owner and others were treated by law.

Currently, the site of this plant is owned by the owner of another company. The company is reported to be in a separate lawsuit against the military, expressing its regret with Uiseong-gun’s request for reimbursement for administrative agency execution and garbage disposal costs.

Uiseong-gun plans to create an’Eco Green Experience Center’ by purchasing the site itself as much as possible when the garbage mountain is cleaned up. It is planned to be used as a place of lessons to prevent the creation of the 2nd and 3rd garbage mountains again.

Uiseong = Reporter Yunho Kim
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