Status Analysis of Construction Waste Disposal in Korea

As for the management and disposal of construction waste, different countries have different means, for example, Korea sets up laws to require the recycling of construction waste.

According to the statistics of the authority, the waste output in Korea in recent years has been showing the trend of continuous increase. In the proportion of all kinds of waste construction materials, waste concrete accounts for 65%, followed by waste pitch that accounts for 18.9%, muck materials account for 4.6% and other waste accounts for 11.5%. The report also points out that the waste output in 2011 was 68.077 million ton, increasing 10.3% than that of 2006, and what deserves attention is that waste concrete and waste pitch (refer to recycling aggregate source hereinafter) accounted for about 84%.

Faced with the construction waste, how to deal with it becomes a problem for the Korean government. According to the statistics of the relevant Korean department, the recycling and incineration disposal rate of all the wastes including construction waste continuously increases, but the landfill rate is gradually decreasing. As a matter of fact, many developed countries including Korea pay more and more attention to the recycling of construction waste which is actually a kind of resource and can bring up a new industry.

From the process of setting up laws about using remanufactured products of construction waste during 2002-2010, we can see that under the social and economic condition of the construction waste industry, firstly, the construction waste output is increasing every year and construction waste accounts for 50% among all the waste materials; secondly, the reserve of and quantity demand for natural aggregates are imbalanced, and what makes things worse, Korean government permanently forbids the aggregate quarrying in Seomjin River, and the aggregate quarrying in Yeongsan River and Ongjin County also has debate, which finally leads to the shortage of aggregates; finally, the unlicensed mining of the companies also aggravates the problem of environment pollution and littering and burying of the construction makes the environment pollution more and more serious.

For this purpose, Korea proposed a bill in 2002, and formulated the Construction Waste Recycling Promotion Law, which was amended in 2005 and 2006. This law includes three promotion policies on promoting the recycling of construction waste: firstly, improving the actual recycling rate of the construction site of the recycling aggregate; secondly, reducing the amount of construction waste; thirdly, duly handling the construction waste, which identifies the responsibility of the government and the companies and identifies the requirement for the capital, size, facilities and technical ability of the construction waste disposal companies. The desired effect is to prevent further damage on the natural environment, ensure the stability of aggregate supply and extend the service of the landfill.