SLC Envisages Model for Low-Carbon, Green Growth

Works on a plan to transform the landfill site into a comprehensive environment/energy town

The Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corp. (SLC) is stepping on the gas to realize a plan to create a comprehensive environment/energy town in the Seoul metropolitan area. SLC President and CEO Cho Chun-koo said, "Our corporation's primary duty is to ensure the stable treatment of wastes, so as not to cause any inconvenience, and the landfill site should commit to bring benefits to neighborhood residents, not stand in the way of the development of the local community, and translate it into action by pursuing green management, like the recycling of wastes into resources." He took office as the fourth president of the corporation last July.
The following are excerpts of an interview with SLC President Cho Chun-koo and NewsWorld.
Question: Will you introduce your corporation to our readers?
Answer: The SLC, situated in Baekseok-dong, Seo-gu, Incheon, is a landfill site that treats the wastes being discharged by approximately 21 million residents in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province.
The landfill site has been perceived as one of the representative disgusting facilities, which have caused clashes with neighborhood residents due to the "Not in my backyard"(NIMBY) syndrome. However, the SLC has now changed into an environmentally-friendly representative in which the landfill site has made its utmost in such things as treating wastes in an environmentally-friendly and sanitary manner, operating power installations by using the gas from the site and creating the "Dream Park." Placing as a top priority task the sanitary dumping of wastes, the SLC treats about 18,000 tons of wastes from homes, construction sites and businesses per day. The landfill site has not only realized the sanitary dumping of wastes with the expertise it has accumulated and its advanced equipment, but it has also implemented projects to reuse various wastes under the catchphrase, "Waste, but Energy." In March 2007, we began the commercial operation of a 50MW power facility built to reuse the gases being discharged while wastes decompose. This project has contributed to the prevention of global warming through the replacement of fossil fuels and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the creation of added-value, brought about by Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects and the revitalization of the regional economy and the provision of a pleasant living environment in the neighborhood as well as the operation of a power facility with a substitution effect of 500,000 barrels of heavy oil imports per year.
In April 2007, the project became the first Korean CDM project involving the reuse of wastes as resources, which was registered with the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It has been highlighted as an exemplary case in an era of crude oil price hikes in which it earned carbon credits worth about 12 billion won per year.
It has brought about a three-in-one effect in which the reuse of gases from the landfill site as a power plant fuel removes bad odors, preserves the environment and creates alternative energy by minimizing environmental problems and recycling wastes into resources.
Q: Will you elaborate on major projects the SLC wants to implement?
A: "Green management" and "low-carbon, green growth" initiatives have become the big currents of the times. National policies on wastes have undergone rapid changes in paradigm due to the creation of a resource-recycling society. Wastes tend to be perceived as new energy sources as an alternative option to overcoming the current energy crisis.
When I took office, I set the goal of recycling wastes into resources and creating a national growth engine, departing from a policy of the sanitary treatment of wastes by dumping. We've stepped on the gas to recycle wastes into resources so that the dumping of wastes can be minimized due to limited space.
With that background in mind, the SLC has established a master plan to create a comprehensive environment/energy town in the Seoul metropolitan area in order to not only cope with the nation's absolute reliance on energy imports and crude oil price hikes, but also to conform to national programs for recycling wastes into resources.
To this end, the master plan calls for creating the town by investing 1.7 trillion won by 2016 with two goals ― the first one designed to recycle the dumped wastes into energy sources, and the other one designed to generate energy by utilizing prospective landfill sites.
We have unveiled a plan to designate this year as the first year for implementing a program to turn the landfill site into an advance base for implementing low-carbon, green growth initiatives. Specifically speaking, we will focus on conducting a feasibility study on building a foundation for the creation of the envisaged town with collaboration among relevant government agencies and organizations, and the completion of the first-phase, pilot project to build a refuse derived fuel (RDF) plant with a daily capacity of 200 tons; promoting support and collaboration for Korean and foreign environmental technology by capitalizing on the know-how accumulated in the course of the development of green technologies in the environment/energy and waste landfill sectors; establishing a master plan and conducting a feasibility study on the development of a world-class environmental tourist spot; stepping up management of environmentally-friendly landfill sites and pursuing waste-recycling; and strengthening partnerships with local communities by participating in the Global Fair & Festivals 2009, scheduled to be opened in Incheon, and other cultural events.
If the plan goes as smoothly as planned, by 2016, the SLC is expected to generate 2.1 million Gcal annually via such new and renewable energy sources as wastes, photovoltaic and biomass, which is equivalent to the energy used for heating about 150,000 households. This will have a substitution effect equal to 1.79 million barrels of crude oil and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 600,000 tons, worth approximately 377.6 billion won annually.
A few years ago, we embarked on the development of the technologies needed to recycle wastes into resources. Our corporation now operates a 50MW power facility reusing the gases being discharged from the dumped wastes, which has earned the SLC revenues of about 45.1 billion won from power sales and 1.2 million tons of carbon credits.
The SLC is working on the development of a facility designed to turn sewage sludge into resources with a daily capacity of 3,300 tons. The first phase of the plan calls for the completion of a facility with a daily capacity of 1,000 tons this month and the dedication of a pilot project to build a combustible refuse derived fuel (RDF) plant by the end of this year. The SLC is making preparations for the launch of projects to construct facilities for the gasification of food waste and the reuse of the gases from dumped wastes, such as automobile fuels, by conducting feasibility studies on the projects.
We've secured about 20 Korean and foreign patents and technologies based on the technological expertise on the dumping of wastes the SLC has accumulated. The SLC is striving to export the expertise and services related to the environment industry to 20 districts in 15 countries, including Vietnam.
The SLC plans to construct the so-called Dream Park in cooperation with neighborhood residents. The plan calls for turning the whole of the dumped landfill site into an afforested greenery space with the goal of building a world-class ecological hub designed to serve as both a resting place and a tourist spot for both neighborhood residents and others in the Seoul metropolitan area.
Q: How do you make the most of the geographical location of the landfill site?
A: Considering the geographical affinity with Incheon International Airport and the Gyeongin Waterway as well as the 2014 Asian Games to be held in Incheon, the SLC is striving to manage the landfill site in a thorough manner and make it an environmentally-friendly and cultural space. We wish to discuss with the Incheon Metropolitan Government an option for the SLC to be the venue of parts of the Asian Games so that the upcoming Asiad could be environmentally-friendly.
Q: Would you like to add anything else in conclusion?
A: The SLC is in the heart of projects to recycle wastes into resources and biomass programs. The construction of the projected comprehensive environment/energy town in the Seoul metropolitan area will be a litmus test for the success of projects to recycle wastes into resources and biomass programs. To this end, we will solicit the cooperation and understanding of relevant government agencies and citizens in order to make these projects a success.
The corporation, which has set its vision, "Turning the world's biggest landfill site into the world's best environmental attraction," has an ambitious plan to transform the waste dumping place into an environmental and cultural space. The SLC has so far devoted its energies to shake off the stigma of being a "disgusting facility," but from now on, during the remainder of my career, our corporation plans to concentrate its focus on making the landfill site a source of pride, so that not only residents of the neighborhood, but the people of Korea can boast about. nw

(clockwise)Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corp. (SLC) President Cho Chun-koo;
an artist's conception showing a comprehensive environment/energy town in the Seoul metropolitan area; and SLC's 50MW power facility powered by the recycling of gases from the landfill site.