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Strategic environmental assessment for effective waste management in Korea: A review of the new policy framework
Waste Management 82 (2018) 129–138
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Strategic environmental assessment for effective waste management in Korea: A review of the new policy framework Namil Um a,⇑, Young-Yeul Kang a, Ki-Heon Kim a, Sun-Kyoung Shin b, Youngkee Lee a a b
Environmental Resources Research, National Institute of Environmental Research, Hwangyeong-ro 42, Seo-gu, Incheon 404-708, Republic of Korea Natural Environment Policy Office, Ministry of Environment, Government Complex-Sejong, 11, Doum 6-Ro, Sejong-si 30103, Republic of Korea
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 21 May 2018 Revised 13 October 2018 Accepted 15 October 2018
Keywords: New policy framework Environmental assessment Waste management Hazardous property Recycling type
a b s t r a c t This study examines the new policy framework, which includes effective environmental assessment procedure to manage waste in Korea. Concept of this framework pursues the important strategies toward the waste reduction, preservation of landfill area, stabilization and removal of hazardous substance in wastes, and optimal treatment for energy and material recovery from wastes. Therefore, it has begun on three points. First, activating the effective recycling system to reuse wastes will be essential to waste reduction. Second, the utilization of substitute resource can be expected through the optimal transforming the wastes into the recycled product, raw material, thermal energy, etc. Third, the characteristics of waste must be evaluated by strategic environmental assessment. To realize this concept, the strategic environment assessment with reinforcement of hazardous property, categorization of recycling type, and classification of environmental assessment procedure depending on the recycling type was provided. In addition, based on this environment assessment, the new policy framework was built through the established and revised Wastes Control Act by focusing on simple systematic procedure for decision of the possible recycling and strengthening the safety of the wastes to a higher level with promoting recycling activities. Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction As the rapid industrialization of the modern society leads to mass-production, consumption, and disuse, the current social system encounters the crisis such as environmental pollution, depletion of resources, and increase in wastes (D’Alisa et al., 2010; Bustos-Gallardo, 2013). For overcoming the crisis, the concept of conversion into the ‘Resource Circulation Society’ is required by inhibiting wastes in the overall processes of production, distribution, consumption, and disposal or by preventing the environmental contamination and minimizing the use of natural resources and energy through the effective waste management with recycling wastes into substitute resources (Demirbas, 2011; Durr et al., 2017; Song et al., 2015). Even though this concept is of growing importance in this era of globalization, Korea could not coordinate the concept-related activities well enough. For example, the academic technologies or methods possible for field applications were developed sufficiently by many researchers attempting to secure the substitute resources by using the recycling technology ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Um). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2018.10.025 0956-053X/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
(Lee et al., 2015), but there were insufficiencies in the applications into policies. As another example, although the goal of below 3.0% landfill rate (eventually going for zero-landfill) by 2020 was established as a priority task in the national level, Korea has still been dependent on the landfill and similar methods for waste management and these methods in the small territory level are not effective (Ham and Lee, 2017). As confirming the reason of these problems, it shows that there are some difficulties in existing domestic system. First, the range of wastes subject to recycle is limited. The wastes are classified and managed into only two types with ‘general waste’ and ‘hazardous waste’ depending on three harmful properties such as leaching toxicity, infectiousness and corrosiveness. For example, in the case of the leaching toxicity, it is classified as hazardous waste according to the ‘Standard of Harmful Substance judged as Hazardous Waste (Table 1)’ in Annex 1 of Enforcement Regulation of the Wastes Control Act (Ministry of Environment, 2018b). For corrosives, the range is limited to the range of less than pH 2.0 and higher than pH 12.5. There are no criterion and test method for the infectiousness, but the wastes are defined as infectious substance according to the emission source and strictly regulated channel. When it is classified as hazardous waste, there are
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Table 1 Standard of harmful substance classified as hazardous waste (Ministry of Environment, 2018b). Item
Standard
Item
Standard
Pb Cu As Hg Cd Cr6+
3 mg/L 3 mg/L 1.5 mg/L 0.005 mg/L 0.3 mg/L 1.5 mg/L
CN Organophosphorus Tetrachloroethylene Trichlorothylene Oil content
1 mg/L 1 mg/L 0.1 mg/L 0.3 mg/L 5 wt%
difficulties in the government approval for recycling due to the issue of harmfulness. Second, the standard intended to ensure the safety of the target wastes and their recycled products was not clear, and this resulted in social distrust on recycled products. Third, the systematic procedure on waste recycling was not established. When the company or individual plan to request the approval from government, the procedures are complex and time-consuming. These issues became critical factors of hindering the research activities and recycling the waste effectively. For overcoming these difficulties, therefore, the Ministry of Environment in Korea proposed the new policy framework with the strategic environmental assessment as the effective waste management. To realize this new framework, strategic environment assessment was built (Section 4), and the new policy framework based on the environment assessment was established (Section 5). The Wastes Control Act was established and revised by focusing on decision of the possible recycling through simple systematic procedure and strengthening the safety of the target wastes to a higher level with promoting recycling activities (Section 6). Next, the Enforcement Ordinance and the Enforcement Regulation were added, and the additional detailed matters of this framework were provided through the Ministry of Environment Notification afterwards (Section 6). These are discussed in more detail below.
the National Institute of Environmental Research affiliated to the Ministry of Environment according to ‘Matters required for the Designation of Environmental Assessment Institution’ in Article 14-9 of the Enforcement Regulations of the Wastes Control Act (Ministry of Environment, 2018b). The article requests qualification with the technical manpower, facility, and equipment for the performance of the work. For example, to satisfy the facilityqualification, it must have an exclusive space of 120 square meter or more in total floor area, which must be divided or sectioned into equipment room of over 40 square meters with thermally controlled facility and dehumidifier, laboratory of over 40 square meters with hood facility, office, etc. To satisfy equipmentqualification, the equipment and device related to 9 items of the hazardous properties (Explosiveness, flammability, combustibility, reaction with water, oxidation, leaching toxicity, corrosiveness, infectiousness, and eco-toxicity) must be provided. Approval Institution reviews the results performed by the environmental assessment institution and decides the approval. The National Institute of Environmental Research is in charge of the Approval Institution. The approval procedure is based on the following conditions in ‘Approval Condition of Recycling according to the Environmental Assessment’ in Article 7-4 of the Enforcement Ordinance of Wastes Control Act (Ministry of Environment, 2018a). o Recycling process is not harmful to the workers or to the surrounding environment, and the relevant recycled product is useful. o Treatment method and technology for recycling are appropriate. o Follow-up management is appropriate when recycling in longterm or possible direct contact with the soil, underground water, surface water, etc. o Environmental assessment institution complies with the procedures and methods of the environmental assessment suggested by the Wastes Control Act, and the result satisfies the direction of the environmental assessment policy.
2. Background of the case study Ministry of Environment in Korea is a central administrative agency that prevents environmental pollution or contamination, and enables proper or sustainable management. The activity includes preservation of the environment through the establishment of various basic plans and mid-long term general plans along with environmental education and PR activities related to environmental preservation to enable all people to live a health and comfortable lives. Moreover, the Ministry of Environment establishes the natural environment preservation plan, basic plan on atmospheric environment preservation, waste treatment plan, and basic plan on water environment management and has prepared and promoted the natural ecosystem preservation, national park management, environmental impact assessment, air pollutant emission business management plan, etc. Besides, the other plans with automobile pollution prevention, legal legislation and amendment responding to climate change, and conversion of wastes into energy are established additionally. Wastes Control Act was specifically established and announced by the Ministry of Environment in March 8, 1991. It is composed total of 63 Articles and additional clauses including the general rules of waste discharge and treatment, regulations of waste treatment business or individual related to guidance, supervision, supplementary rule, and penalty, notifications of the detailed matters, etc. This lead to keep the natural environment clean and to contribute to the qualitative improvement of national life. Environmental Assessment Institution is an agency performing the strategic environmental assessment of the new policy framework introduced in this paper. The institution is designated by
3. Concept of new policy framework Basically, the concept of the new policy framework for effective waste management has two objectives with the environment protection from wastes and the saving of natural resources through the waste recycling. To realize the concept with two objectives, important strategies must be established with the effort toward waste reduction, preservation of landfill area, stabilization and removal of hazardous substance in wastes, and optimal treatment for energy and material recovery from wastes. Of course, the most effective method is to reduce waste in the process of manufacturing, or to inhibit the discarded products during the consumption. However, considering the aforementioned important strategies, the concept of new policy framework must be approached in three important points. First, activating the effective recycling system to reuse wastes already generated will be essential to waste reduction and breakaway from existing landfill method (expecting the preservation of the landfill-performed or landfill-requiring). Second, the utilization of substitute resource can be expected through the optimal transforming the wastes into the recycled product, raw material, thermal energy, etc. Third, the characteristics of target waste must be evaluated by strategic environmental assessment before any decision is made for recycling. 4. Strategic environmental assessment The strategic environment assessment is composed of two perspectives. First, the reinforcement of waste management to control
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the hazard in recycling is needed (Section 4.1). When using the waste with high possibility of direct or indirect harm on human or surrounding environment on recycling, it was difficult to control appropriately by only using three existing regulatory of leaching toxicity, corrosiveness, and infectiousness because of various characteristics of wastes generated in numerous industrial processes. Therefore, the variety of hazard must be considered. Second, the categorization of recycling types and classification of the environmental assessment procedure are needed (Sections 4.2 and 4.3). If the minimum principles and matters of compliance are satisfied according to the assessment procedure suitable for each recycling type of categorization, the approval of recycling is acceptable. For example, compared to recycling types for securing the raw material or manufacturing the specific product, the thermal energy recovery requires additional assessment about incineration facility. In recycling of embankment material or sub-base layer material, the contamination of the soil, surface water, and underground water by the interaction with the recycled site and the peripheral site is verified in the assessment procedure. Therefore, the environmental assessment procedure must be classified according to the categorized recycling types. The details are described as shown below.
2016a). The analysis method of each item is provided in the Official Wastes Test Method (Ministry of Environment Notification; No.2017-54) (Ministry of Environment, 2017). In addition, ‘a few types of wastes and relevant industries that must be verified as a hazard’ was suggested in the environment assessment procedure through the Ministry of Environment Notification (No. 2016-182) (Ministry of Environment, 2016d). As shown in total environmental assessment (Fig. 3), the target waste to be recycled must be verified for which the Notification is applicable. If included in the few types of wastes and relevant industries suggested by the Notification, the waste must be tested to satisfy the standard in Table 2. Based on the results, waste must be recycled for eliminating or stabilizing the hazard by using the physical, chemical, and biological treatment methods. However, there is one exception. If it is recycled by a specific hazardous property, the aforementioned procedure is unnecessary. For example, a waste acid is included as hazardous waste suggested by the Notification due to the very high corrosiveness, but in case of recycling as a neutralizing agent there is no necessity to eliminate or stabilize the hazard in the waste recycling.
4.1. Reinforcement of hazardous property
Recycling type in new environmental assessment procedure was categorized diversely into the reuse, the recovery of useful resources, the manufacturing into specific product and the raw material, the landfill-type utilization, and the thermal energy recovery, as shown in Table 3 (Ministry of Environment, 2018b). Examining each type of recycling, recycling type No. 1 (R-1) is the type of the reuse of the target waste without any treatment.
According to the concept of reinforcement of hazardous property, 6 items of explosiveness, flammability, combustibility, reaction with water, oxidation and eco-toxicity were newly added into existing 3 items. The definition and standard for each item were specified as shown in Table 2 (Ministry of Environment,
4.2. Categorization of recycling type
Table 2 Definition and standard of nine hazardous properties that must be identified in recycling (Ministry of Environment, 2016a). Item
Definition
Standard
Explosiveness
Waste causing chemical reaction to produce gas that causing damage to the surroundings through temperature, pressure and reaction speed
Flammability
Waste being combusted frequently during the move, or causing fire or generating flammable steam under friction or below certain temperature
Combustibility
Waste generating heat naturally at room temperature and atmospheric pressure during the move, or generating heat to cause fire when contacting with air
Reaction with water Oxidation
Waste interacting with the water to be ignited naturally, or emitting flammable gas consistently Waste having the property of not being self-combusted, but producing oxygen to cause or promote the combustion of other substances
Leaching toxicity
Waste having the hazardous property to health or life when the contained hazardous substance is eluted
Infectiousness
Waste giving concerns for harm such as infection to the human body
Corrosiveness
Waste causing damage to biological tissue after contact, or causing chemical reaction to the items or the transportation equipment to cause damage Waste causing negative impact on the microorganism immediately or after fixed period of time when discharged into the ecosystem, due to the bio-toxicity or bio-accumulative effect from the hazardous substance
When inserted into the vessel container and 690 kPa of pressure is applied to induce ignition and explosion, it refers to the internal pressure of 2,070 kPa or more A. Liquid waste: In sealed state at temperature of under 60.5 °C or open state at under 65.5 °C, it refers to the discharge of flammable steam. B. Non-liquid waste: (1) Metal waste: when flame is in contact with the waste for 5 min for ignition, it refers to the combustion completely within 10 min. (2) Non-metal waste: when flame is in contact with the waste for 2 min for ignition, it refers to the combustion of over 100 mm within 45 s. A. Liquid waste: when inserted into the inactive carrier (porous substance that does not react to other substances) and in contact with air, it refers to the ignition within 5 min, or when the filter paper (the liquid waste is dropped on the filter paper to be penetrated) is in contact with air, it refers to the ignition or carbonization within 5 min. B. Non-liquid waste: when in contact with air, it refers to the ignition within 5 min. When reacting 1 kg of waste with water rapidly at room temperature, it refers to the generated gas volume of 20 L per hour or more A. Liquid waste: when comparing the pressure increase time, it refers to the mixture of liquid waste and cellulose (mass ratio 1:1) being lower than (or same as) 65% (w/w) nitrate solution and cellulose (1:1). B. Non-liquid waste: when comparing the maximum combustion speed, it refers to the non-liquid waste being faster than the standard substance [6:4 = barium nitrate : cellulose]. It refers to the result of the leaching test designed in the Waste Process Test Standard exceeding the standard of harmful substances mentioned in Table 1. There is no criterion and test method, but the waste is defined as infectious substance according to the emission source and channel. It refers to the liquid state or soluble state in the water limited to the range of less than pH 2 and higher than pH 12.5, or the corrosion speed of over 6.35 mm/year. It refers to the acute eco-toxicity on the water flea to exceed 2.0 of TU (Toxic Unit) using the eluate obtained from the leaching test of up-flow permeability method with the column-type reaction.
Eco-toxicity
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Table 3 Classification of recycling type related with the environmental assessment procedure (Ministry of Environment, 2018b). Recycling type
Definition
Environmental assessment type
R-1
Reuse of the target waste without any treatment Reuse of the target waste with simple physical treatment such as washing, repair, etc. Recovery of valuable material from the target waste Manufacture using the target waste in all areas except agriculture or soil improving Manufacture for agriculture or soil improving using the target waste R-5: fertilizer (including compost and manure), feeds, etc. R-6: soil amendment, greening, etc. Use as embankment material, landfill-cover material, sub-base layer material, etc. Recovery of thermal energy from the target waste R-8: auxiliary fuel of cement kiln or recovering thermal energy through incineration facility R-9: manufacturing the wastes into liquid, solid, and gas fuel product through refining, emulsification, etc.
Product Type Procedure (PTP)
R-2
R-3 R-4 R-5 and R-6
R-7 R-8 and R-9
Landfill Type Procedure (LTP) Product Type Procedure (PTP)
The target waste for recycling is maintained in its original form and use without any change in the physical, chemical and biological properties through any specific recycling process. Recycling type No. 2 (R-2) is the reuse type of the target waste treated by simple physical methods such as washing, repair, etc. The recycling mode of R-2 is the reuse type of the waste maintained in its original form like the R-1 type, but simple physical treatment process is required to remove any undesired substances. Recycling type No. 3 (R-3) is the type of the recovery of valuable material from the target waste, and its four representative types are below. Type 1: recovering metal or non-metal resources from the target waste through the physical processes of disassembly, separation, crushing, grinding, etc., Type 2: recovering metal or non-metal resources from the target waste through the chemical processes of melting, dissolution, precipitation, extraction, etc., Type 3: refining the target waste into raw material for paper, metal, glass, synthetic resin, fiber, and rubber products through the processes of separation, crushing, melting, dissolution, precipitation, extraction, etc., Type 4: refining the target waste into raw material for other than paper, metal, glass, synthetic resin, fiber, and rubber products through the processes of separation, crushing, melting, dissolution, precipitation, extraction, etc. R-3 can be considered in terms of two different modes. First is the separation of useful substances from wastes (depending on the purity and recovery rate) and it follows the specific purification procedure considering the economic benefit and the recovery rate. Whereas, second is the refining target waste into raw material (depending on the quality of the raw materials for desired product). This mode follows the quality standard (stability, chemical composition, purity, etc.) of the raw material used for the product and may not have high correlation with the recycling rate. Recycling type No. 4 (R-4) is the type of the manufacture using target waste in all areas except agriculture or soil improving, and the following types are included.
Type 1: manufacturing metallic products composed of ferrous or non-ferrous metal, Type 2: manufacturing non-metallic products such as aggregate, glass, cement, concrete or ready-mixed concrete, refractories, ceramic product, etc., Type 3: manufacturing various paper products such as pulp, corrugated cardboard, envelope, etc. Type 4: manufacturing rubber, fiber or synthetic resin products, Type 5: manufacturing wood products such as lumber product, sawdust-type product, coal briquette, etc., Type 6: manufacturing petroleum products such as organic solvent, lubricant, etc., Type 7: manufacturing chemical products such as organic and inorganic compound, pigment, paint, colorant, etc., Type 8: manufacturing oil and fat products such as animal and vegetable oil, soap, etc., Type 9: manufacturing products improving the water quality such as the water treatment agent, organic carbon source, flocculant, etc. Recycling type No. 5 and No. 6 (R-5 and R-6) refer to the manufacture for agriculture or soil improving using the target waste. R5 is the type of recycling organic and inorganic wastes contributing to the agriculture, such as fertilizers (including compost and manure) and feeds. R-6 is the type of recycling organic wastes improving the soil quality and producing soil amendment, greening, etc. Recycling type No. 7 (R-7) refers to the type recycled embankment material, landfill-cover material, sub-base layer material, etc. In other words, it is a substituting the function of the soil, in which relatively larger scale of land is required in comparison with other recycling types. In addition, there is long-term or possible direct contact with the soil, underground water, surface water and seawater, etc. The following types are included in R-7. Type 1: utilizing embankment material, sub-base layer material and road-base material in civil engineering and construction work, Type 2: utilizing embankment material or backfill material in public water surface area, Type 3: utilizing liner or landfill-cover materials in landfill facilities, Type 4: utilizing fill material in restored site or lowland within the quarrying area of the stony mountain, Type 5: utilizing corrosion inhibiting material in the outdoor tank for oil storage or underground pipe, Type 6: utilizing embankment material in the agricultural area. Recycling type No. 8 and No. 9 (R-8 and R-9) are categorized as the recovery of thermal energy from the target waste in the state of direct or indirect collection. In the R-8 (direct collection), auxiliary fuel of cement kiln or recovering the thermal energy through the incineration are included. As for the R-9 (indirect collection), remanufacturing the wastes into liquid, solid, and gas fuel product through refining, emulsification, etc., which can be classified into the four types below. Type 1: manufacturing solid fuel product such as solid refuse fuel (SRF), biomass-solid refuse fuel (BIO-SRF), etc., Type 2: manufacturing liquid- and gas-fuel through the chemical treatment such as thermal decomposition, carbonization, etc., Type 3: manufacturing liquid- and gas-fuel through the biological treatment such as an aerobic digestion and decomposition, etc., Type 4: manufacturing the fuel for thermoelectric power plants and combined heat and power plant.
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4.3. Classification of environmental assessment procedure depending on the recycling type Environmental assessment procedure depending on the recycling types from R-1 to R-9 is classified into Product Type Procedure (PTP) and Landfill Type Procedure (LTP). Because R-7 has high possibility of long-term direct contact with the soil, underground water, surface water and seawater, etc., it is estimated by the assessment procedure, which is set as the LTP. Whereas, other types except for R-7 define as the PTP. In addition, to provide the effective procedure on the PTP, it is classified into manufacture-, recovery-, and energy-procedure. The manufacture-procedure means the re-manufacturing (or reusing) the wastes into the specific product, where R-1, -2, -4, -5, and -6 are included. The recovery-
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procedure and the energy-procedure include R-3 and R-8 and R-9, respectively. Figs. 1 and 2 show the environmental assessment procedures of PTP and LTP. As shown in Fig. 1, the procedure on the PTP works on two estimation stages of field survey and product survey. As for the recovery-procedure (R-3), the field survey method is slightly different depending on the recovery of valuable material or refining into the raw material, but basically it verifies the essential particulars such as harmful additional liquid substance/material (i.e. strong acid solution used for recovery (or refining) in the acidleachate process), leakage risk of harmful liquid substance/material at the recycling process site, countermeasure for solving the leakage risk, treatment system of the secondary wastes (waste water, slag, slime and dust, etc.) generated during the recycling
Fig. 1. Environmental assessment procedure of product type consisting of manufacture (R-1, R-2, R-4, R-5, and R-6), recovery (R-3), and energy (R-8 and R-9).
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Fig. 2. Environmental assessment procedure of landfill type (R-7).
process, etc. In the field survey of manufacture-procedure (R-1, -2, -4, -5, and -6), the manufacturing facility, product-fault rate (or product quality), harmfulness of the final product must be considered as the essential particulars. Whereas, in the energy-procedure, the field survey particulars about the incineration facility must be added; the possibility of air pollution during incineration process, stability of the incineration heat collection system, the treatment system of residue after the incineration, etc. can be verified. The field survey is performed with assessment under the objective decision of the survey-team (organized with personnel in environmental assessment institution and external experts). The field survey is not dependent on the analysis. However, if needed, the surrounding environment of the recycling process site in terms of
three parts can be analyzed. The first part is atmospheric-impact analysis around the recycling process: air quality, odor, scattered dust, noise and vibration, etc. The second part is waterenvironmental-impact analysis around the recycling process: waste water, leachate, and underground water, etc. The third part is soil-impact analysis around the recycling process: content, elution, etc. In the next estimation stage, the product survey is to be divided into three steps, as shown in Fig. 1. In the first step the benchmark is set-up (in a temporary standard value). In a second step it is measured through the relevant analysis method. In a third step the analyzed result is compared with the standard value for verification. For example, in case of the recovery-procedure, the
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required benchmark items including recycling or removal rate, purity, element concentration, chemical composition, etc. can be set with the standard value. For the energy-procedure, the lowheating value related to the requirement of the energy gain factor, chlorine content of residue after incineration, heavy metal, ash, moisture, sulfur, etc. can become the benchmark items. In the manufacture-procedure, the items including heavy metal content, leaching concentration, etc. can be used as the benchmark along with the quality standard of target product. LTP, which is relevant to the R-7, is divided into field survey and landfill survey. As shown in Fig. 2, if the target waste for R-7 is stable, the pretreatment, such as stabilization, separation, cleaning, etc., is not required for recycling and the field survey of recycling process site is not needed in the LTP procedure. However, if required, the recycling process site must be verified by the
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check list including the leakage of harmful substance in the surrounding environment, countermeasure of the leakage, treatment of the waste during the recycling process, etc. In addition, if needed, atmospheric-impact analysis, water-environmentalimpact analysis, and soil-impact analysis are performed, like the field survey in PTP. The site used for R-7 is substituted with wastes contacting with the soil, underground water, surface water and seawater, etc. in the long term range of field survey. Therefore, the site used for R-7 must be performed with the field survey below. o Verification on the area designated by the law as protection and environmental preservation o Survey on the site by visual classification, taking soil sample from each area, chemical analysis, etc.
Fig. 3. Combined decision tree of total environmental assessment.
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o Investigation on rapid change in pH (acidic or alkaline) due to the mixture of target waste and soil on the site Unlike the product survey in the PTP, the landfill survey in the LTP provides the following four fixed survey steps for the target waste used for R-7; step 1, is the content analysis of hazardous substances such as Cd, Hg, As, Pb, etc.; step 2, is the leaching test using a column-type reactor; step 3, is the modeling; step 4, is the estimation of field application with a pilot-scale test. It has limitation of survey step through the standards of waste amount (20,000 tons) and site area (5,000 m2) used for R-7. If both do not exceed the standard, it can be simplified with only two steps of content analysis and leaching test. In the step 2, the leaching test follows the method of up-flow permeability using the columntype reactor; the complicated leaching process has to be simplified to identify the substances of possible elution into the natural environment or site. The up-flow permeability method and device of leaching test is designed and provided by the Official Wastes Test Standard (Ministry of Environment, 2017). The step 3 is predicting and evaluating based on the numerical analysis; in this modeling, the liquid pollutant is quantitatively evaluated, which has an impact on the peripheral environment. However, the modeling is not provided in the specific method, such as the modeling type, standard for estimation, required factor, etc. The method can be decided based on the results of content analysis (step 1), leaching test (step 2), and field survey. The estimation of field application in the step 4 refers to the evaluating the stabilization of target waste in the environmental condition similar to the site used as R-7 using the simulated analysis on the actual site in the form of pilot-scale plant under the fixed test condition. Considering the reinforcement of hazardous property (Section 4.1), categorization of recycling type (Section 4.2), and classification of environmental assessment procedure depending on the recycling type (in this section), the total flow-chart of environmental assessment can be obtained, as shown in Fig. 3. 5. New policy framework with strategic environmental assessment New policy framework, as shown in Fig. 4, has the total system chart with four organizations; the company or individual for recycling; the environmental assessment institution for performing the procedure of environmental assessment depending on the recycling type; the approval institution for evaluating the validity on the result obtained from the environmental assessment institution and deciding the approval; the government for issuing the permit on the approval. All of the organizations have same objectives and are intimately connected to one another. The details are described as below.
The recycling company or individual prepares the data of target waste used for recycling, summary with purpose and method of recycling, information related to facility and equipment used in recycling. If possible, the sample of final product should be prepared. Along with the prepared data, the documents required for the application are prepared for submitting to the environmental assessment institution (①). The environmental assessment institution reviews the submitted data and documents and then performs the environmental assessment procedure depending on PTP or LTP. After the assessment, the report on assessment result is delivered to the recycling company or individual applied for the environmental assessment (②). The report and other required documents are submitted to the approval institution (③), and the approval institution reviews the report and relevant documents through the procedure specified in Fig. 5. If the submitted report and relevant documents are insufficient, they are refused or the modification or the additional documents are requested. After reviewing, violations against the Wastes Control Act must be identified. If required, the relevant recycling site may be visited to check for compliance with the submitted report and relevant documents. In addition, consultative committee with external experts must be organized to evaluate the appropriateness of environmental assessment; in consultation meeting, extract comments and opinions form the external experts have to be made. After verifying all results, the approval is decided by the approval institution decides the approval. If the recycling company or individual receives formal notification of approval as ‘‘enable” from the approval institution (④), the approval notification must be submitted to the government (⑤) to be issued with the permit (⑥). For the successful stabilization of the new policy framework, the role of the government is very important. The government must lead the economic support to the recycling company or individual, activate the educational program on the environmental assessment, review supplements on the new policy framework, establish and revise additional ordinances, and collect opinions from main organizations related with the new policy framework. Currently, many companies or individuals in Korea are trying to understand the environmental assessment procedure, and the government is performing relevant educational programs to increase the level of understanding. Indeed, many companies and individuals already received the permit through the new procedure of environmental assessment or they are under progress. 6. Application in Wastes Control Act Ministry of Environment established and revised the Wastes Control Act, Enforcement Ordinance, Enforcement Regulation, and Ministry of Environment Notification to realize the new policy
Fig. 4. Approval and permission chart with four organizations provided by the new policy framework. The numbers represent: (①) application for environmental assessment; (②) sending of assessment report; (③) sending of assessment report and approval request; (④) notification of approval decision; (⑤) submission of approval notice; (⑥) issue of the permit.
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Fig. 5. Role of approval institution for handling of assessment report and approval request from the recycling company or individual.
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framework with environmental assessment, as shown in Table 4. First, the article on the general recycling principles was newly included in the Wastes Control Act along with the definition of environmental assessment. Accordingly, the basic articles on the designation of environmental assessment institution, the environmental assessment performance, and the necessity of complying with the standard of harmfulness regarding the recycled product and raw material are followed. Next, in the Enforcement Ordinance of the Wastes Control Act, the compliance matters for waste recycling were added. Here, it is specified that the waste must be treated by the recycling procedure for eliminating or stabilizing the hazard relevant to the 9 items using the physical, chemical and biological treatment. Also, the approval condition of recycling according to the environmental assessment is provided as four items, mentioned in Section 2. In addition, the definitions of the environmental assessment institution and wastes prohibited or restricted against recycling were added. In the Enforcement Regulation, the list of common standard and the types of prohibited or restricted waste are specified through ‘Common Standard and Detailed Compliance Matters on the Recycling of Wastes’ in Article 14-3. Also, the procedure and method of the environmental assessment and the procedure, notification, and condition of approval decision are specified. Moreover, detailed qualification of the environmental assessment institution such as the designation, modification of designation, preparation of the assessment report, and inspection of the designated institution are specified. The additional detailed matters with the definition and relevant standard of hazardous properties, the procedure and method of environmental assessment, the preparation method of the environmental assessment report, etc., as mentioned in the Enforcement Ordinance and Enforcement Regulation of the Wastes Control Act, are provided through the Ministry of Environment Notification.
Table 4 Established and revised Wastes Control Act, Enforcement Ordinance, Enforcement Regulation, and Notification of Ministry of Environment for new policy framework with strategic environmental assessment. Wastes Control Act (was implemented from 20 July 2015) (Ministry of Environment, 2018c) s Principles of Environmental Assessment on Recycling of Wastes; Article 13-3 s Designation of Environmental Assessment Institution; Article 13-4 s Standard on Harmfulness of Recycled Products or Raw Materials; Article 13-5 Enforcement Ordinance of Wastes Control Act (was implemented from 21 July 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2018a) s Compliance Matters on the Recycling of Wastes; Article 7-2 s Wastes Prohibited or Restricted Against Recycling; Article 7-3 s Approval Condition of Recycling According to the Environmental Assessment; Article 7-4 s Definition of Environmental Assessment Institution; Article 7-5 Enforcement Regulation of Wastes Control Act (was implemented from 21 July 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2018b) s Common Standard and Detailed Compliance Matters on the Recycling of wastes; Article 14-3 s Procedures and Methods of Environment Assessment; Article 14-4 s Company or Individual Applied for Environmental Assessment; Article 14-5 s Procedure of Approval on the Environmental Assessment; Article 14-6 s Notification of Approval on the Environmental Assessment; Article 14-7 s Condition of Approval on the Environmental Assessment; Article 14-8 s Qualification for the Designation of Environmental Assessment Institution; Article 14-9 s Modification of Designated Environmental Assessment Institution; Article 14-10 s Preparation of the Environmental Assessment Report; Article 14-11 s Inspection of the Environmental Assessment Institution; Article 14-12 Ministry of Environment Notification s Definition and Standard of Hazardous Properties; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-146 (was implemented from 21 July 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2016a) s Regulation on the Types of Wastes and Relevant Industries that must be Verified as a Hazard; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-182 (was implemented from 9 Sept, 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2016d) s Regulation on the Detailed Procedures and Methods of Environmental Assessment; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-144 (was implemented from 21 July 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2016b) s Regulation on the Detailed Preparation Method of the Environmental Assessment Report; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-145 (was implemented from 21 July 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2016c)
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7. Conclusions
Acknowledgement
In Korea, the new policy framework including the strategic environmental assessment as the effective waste management method was promoted for achieving the concept with the important strategies toward the waste reduction, preservation of landfill area, stabilization and removal of hazardous substance in wastes, and optimal treatment for energy and material recovery from wastes. To realize this concept, first, strategic environment assessment was provided in approach through two perspectives. The reinforcement of waste management to control the hazard in recycling is needed. The 9 items of hazardous properties with leaching toxicity, infectiousness, corrosiveness, explosiveness, flammability, combustibility, reaction with water, oxidation, and eco-toxicity are specified. The categorization of recycling types and classification of the environmental assessment procedure are needed. The recycling type is categorized diversely into the reuse, the recovery of useful resources, the manufacture into specific product and the raw material of the product, the large-scale landfill-type utilization, and the thermal energy recovery. In addition, the environmental assessment procedure depending on the recycling types are classified into product type procedure (PTP) and landfill type procedure (LTP). Second, based on the environmental assessment, the new policy framework with four organizations was built; the company or individual for recycling; the environmental assessment institution for performing the procedure of environmental assessment depending on the recycling type; the approval institution for evaluating the validity on the result obtained from the environmental assessment institution and deciding the approval; the government for issuing the permit on the approval. Final, the Ministry of Environment established and revised the articles in Wastes Control Act, Enforcement Ordinance, and Enforcement Regulation and Ministry of Environment Notifications to realize the new policy framework.
This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), funded by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) of the Republic of Korea (NIER-2014-01-01-015). References Bustos-Gallardo, B., 2013. The ISA crisis in Los Lagos Chile: a failure of neoliberal environmental governance? Geoforum 48, 196–206. D’Alisa, G., Burgalassi, D., Healy, H., Walter, M., 2010. Conflict in Campania: waste emergency or crisis of democracy. Ecol. Econ. 70, 239–249. Demirbas, A., 2011. Waste management, waste resource facilities and waste conversion processes. Energy Convers. Manage. 52, 1280–1297. Durr, J.F.W., Hagedorn-Hansen, D., Oosthuizen, G.A., 2017. Waste to resource process chain strategies for global manufacturers. Procedia Manufact. 8, 595–602. Ham, G., Lee, D., 2017. Consideration of high-efficient Waste-to-Energy with district energy for sustainable solid waste management in Korea. Energy Procedia 116, 518–526. Lee, S., Park, S., Kim, T., 2015. Review on investment direction of green technology R&D in Korea. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 50, 186–193. Ministry of Environment, 2016a. Definition and Standard of Hazardous Properties; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-146 (Ver. Korean). http://www. law.go.kr (accessed 05.01.18). Ministry of Environment, 2016b. Regulation on the Detailed Procedures and Methods of Environmental Assessment; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-144 (Ver. Korean). http://www.law.go.kr (accessed 05.01.18). Ministry of Environment, 2016c. Regulation on the Detailed Procedures and Methods of Environmental Assessment Report; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-145 (Ver. Korean). http://www.law.go.kr (accessed 05.01.18). Ministry of Environment, 2016d. Regulation on the Types of Wastes and Relevant Industries that must be Verified as a Hazard; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-182 (Ver. Korean). http://www.law.go.kr (accessed 05.01.18). Ministry of Environment, 2017. Official Wastes Test Method; Ministry of Environment Notification No.2017-54 (Ver. Korean). http://www.law.go.kr (accessed 05.01.18). Ministry of Environment, 2018a. Enforcement Ordinance of Wastes Control Act (Ver. Korean). http://www.law.go.kr (accessed 05.01.18). Ministry of Environment, 2018b. Enforcement Regulation of Wastes Control Act (Ver. Korean). http://www.law.go.kr (accessed 05.01.18). Ministry of Environment, 2018c. Wastes Control Act (Ver. Korean). http://www.law. go.kr (accessed 05.01.18). Song, Q., Li, J., Zeng, X., 2015. Minimizing the increasing solid waste through zero waste strategy. J. Cleaner Prod. 104, 199–210.
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Country report
Strategic environmental assessment for effective waste management in Korea: A review of the new policy framework Namil Um a,⇑, Young-Yeul Kang a, Ki-Heon Kim a, Sun-Kyoung Shin b, Youngkee Lee a a b
Environmental Resources Research, National Institute of Environmental Research, Hwangyeong-ro 42, Seo-gu, Incheon 404-708, Republic of Korea Natural Environment Policy Office, Ministry of Environment, Government Complex-Sejong, 11, Doum 6-Ro, Sejong-si 30103, Republic of Korea
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 21 May 2018 Revised 13 October 2018 Accepted 15 October 2018
Keywords: New policy framework Environmental assessment Waste management Hazardous property Recycling type
a b s t r a c t This study examines the new policy framework, which includes effective environmental assessment procedure to manage waste in Korea. Concept of this framework pursues the important strategies toward the waste reduction, preservation of landfill area, stabilization and removal of hazardous substance in wastes, and optimal treatment for energy and material recovery from wastes. Therefore, it has begun on three points. First, activating the effective recycling system to reuse wastes will be essential to waste reduction. Second, the utilization of substitute resource can be expected through the optimal transforming the wastes into the recycled product, raw material, thermal energy, etc. Third, the characteristics of waste must be evaluated by strategic environmental assessment. To realize this concept, the strategic environment assessment with reinforcement of hazardous property, categorization of recycling type, and classification of environmental assessment procedure depending on the recycling type was provided. In addition, based on this environment assessment, the new policy framework was built through the established and revised Wastes Control Act by focusing on simple systematic procedure for decision of the possible recycling and strengthening the safety of the wastes to a higher level with promoting recycling activities. Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction As the rapid industrialization of the modern society leads to mass-production, consumption, and disuse, the current social system encounters the crisis such as environmental pollution, depletion of resources, and increase in wastes (D’Alisa et al., 2010; Bustos-Gallardo, 2013). For overcoming the crisis, the concept of conversion into the ‘Resource Circulation Society’ is required by inhibiting wastes in the overall processes of production, distribution, consumption, and disposal or by preventing the environmental contamination and minimizing the use of natural resources and energy through the effective waste management with recycling wastes into substitute resources (Demirbas, 2011; Durr et al., 2017; Song et al., 2015). Even though this concept is of growing importance in this era of globalization, Korea could not coordinate the concept-related activities well enough. For example, the academic technologies or methods possible for field applications were developed sufficiently by many researchers attempting to secure the substitute resources by using the recycling technology ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Um). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2018.10.025 0956-053X/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
(Lee et al., 2015), but there were insufficiencies in the applications into policies. As another example, although the goal of below 3.0% landfill rate (eventually going for zero-landfill) by 2020 was established as a priority task in the national level, Korea has still been dependent on the landfill and similar methods for waste management and these methods in the small territory level are not effective (Ham and Lee, 2017). As confirming the reason of these problems, it shows that there are some difficulties in existing domestic system. First, the range of wastes subject to recycle is limited. The wastes are classified and managed into only two types with ‘general waste’ and ‘hazardous waste’ depending on three harmful properties such as leaching toxicity, infectiousness and corrosiveness. For example, in the case of the leaching toxicity, it is classified as hazardous waste according to the ‘Standard of Harmful Substance judged as Hazardous Waste (Table 1)’ in Annex 1 of Enforcement Regulation of the Wastes Control Act (Ministry of Environment, 2018b). For corrosives, the range is limited to the range of less than pH 2.0 and higher than pH 12.5. There are no criterion and test method for the infectiousness, but the wastes are defined as infectious substance according to the emission source and strictly regulated channel. When it is classified as hazardous waste, there are
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Table 1 Standard of harmful substance classified as hazardous waste (Ministry of Environment, 2018b). Item
Standard
Item
Standard
Pb Cu As Hg Cd Cr6+
3 mg/L 3 mg/L 1.5 mg/L 0.005 mg/L 0.3 mg/L 1.5 mg/L
CN Organophosphorus Tetrachloroethylene Trichlorothylene Oil content
1 mg/L 1 mg/L 0.1 mg/L 0.3 mg/L 5 wt%
difficulties in the government approval for recycling due to the issue of harmfulness. Second, the standard intended to ensure the safety of the target wastes and their recycled products was not clear, and this resulted in social distrust on recycled products. Third, the systematic procedure on waste recycling was not established. When the company or individual plan to request the approval from government, the procedures are complex and time-consuming. These issues became critical factors of hindering the research activities and recycling the waste effectively. For overcoming these difficulties, therefore, the Ministry of Environment in Korea proposed the new policy framework with the strategic environmental assessment as the effective waste management. To realize this new framework, strategic environment assessment was built (Section 4), and the new policy framework based on the environment assessment was established (Section 5). The Wastes Control Act was established and revised by focusing on decision of the possible recycling through simple systematic procedure and strengthening the safety of the target wastes to a higher level with promoting recycling activities (Section 6). Next, the Enforcement Ordinance and the Enforcement Regulation were added, and the additional detailed matters of this framework were provided through the Ministry of Environment Notification afterwards (Section 6). These are discussed in more detail below.
the National Institute of Environmental Research affiliated to the Ministry of Environment according to ‘Matters required for the Designation of Environmental Assessment Institution’ in Article 14-9 of the Enforcement Regulations of the Wastes Control Act (Ministry of Environment, 2018b). The article requests qualification with the technical manpower, facility, and equipment for the performance of the work. For example, to satisfy the facilityqualification, it must have an exclusive space of 120 square meter or more in total floor area, which must be divided or sectioned into equipment room of over 40 square meters with thermally controlled facility and dehumidifier, laboratory of over 40 square meters with hood facility, office, etc. To satisfy equipmentqualification, the equipment and device related to 9 items of the hazardous properties (Explosiveness, flammability, combustibility, reaction with water, oxidation, leaching toxicity, corrosiveness, infectiousness, and eco-toxicity) must be provided. Approval Institution reviews the results performed by the environmental assessment institution and decides the approval. The National Institute of Environmental Research is in charge of the Approval Institution. The approval procedure is based on the following conditions in ‘Approval Condition of Recycling according to the Environmental Assessment’ in Article 7-4 of the Enforcement Ordinance of Wastes Control Act (Ministry of Environment, 2018a). o Recycling process is not harmful to the workers or to the surrounding environment, and the relevant recycled product is useful. o Treatment method and technology for recycling are appropriate. o Follow-up management is appropriate when recycling in longterm or possible direct contact with the soil, underground water, surface water, etc. o Environmental assessment institution complies with the procedures and methods of the environmental assessment suggested by the Wastes Control Act, and the result satisfies the direction of the environmental assessment policy.
2. Background of the case study Ministry of Environment in Korea is a central administrative agency that prevents environmental pollution or contamination, and enables proper or sustainable management. The activity includes preservation of the environment through the establishment of various basic plans and mid-long term general plans along with environmental education and PR activities related to environmental preservation to enable all people to live a health and comfortable lives. Moreover, the Ministry of Environment establishes the natural environment preservation plan, basic plan on atmospheric environment preservation, waste treatment plan, and basic plan on water environment management and has prepared and promoted the natural ecosystem preservation, national park management, environmental impact assessment, air pollutant emission business management plan, etc. Besides, the other plans with automobile pollution prevention, legal legislation and amendment responding to climate change, and conversion of wastes into energy are established additionally. Wastes Control Act was specifically established and announced by the Ministry of Environment in March 8, 1991. It is composed total of 63 Articles and additional clauses including the general rules of waste discharge and treatment, regulations of waste treatment business or individual related to guidance, supervision, supplementary rule, and penalty, notifications of the detailed matters, etc. This lead to keep the natural environment clean and to contribute to the qualitative improvement of national life. Environmental Assessment Institution is an agency performing the strategic environmental assessment of the new policy framework introduced in this paper. The institution is designated by
3. Concept of new policy framework Basically, the concept of the new policy framework for effective waste management has two objectives with the environment protection from wastes and the saving of natural resources through the waste recycling. To realize the concept with two objectives, important strategies must be established with the effort toward waste reduction, preservation of landfill area, stabilization and removal of hazardous substance in wastes, and optimal treatment for energy and material recovery from wastes. Of course, the most effective method is to reduce waste in the process of manufacturing, or to inhibit the discarded products during the consumption. However, considering the aforementioned important strategies, the concept of new policy framework must be approached in three important points. First, activating the effective recycling system to reuse wastes already generated will be essential to waste reduction and breakaway from existing landfill method (expecting the preservation of the landfill-performed or landfill-requiring). Second, the utilization of substitute resource can be expected through the optimal transforming the wastes into the recycled product, raw material, thermal energy, etc. Third, the characteristics of target waste must be evaluated by strategic environmental assessment before any decision is made for recycling. 4. Strategic environmental assessment The strategic environment assessment is composed of two perspectives. First, the reinforcement of waste management to control
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the hazard in recycling is needed (Section 4.1). When using the waste with high possibility of direct or indirect harm on human or surrounding environment on recycling, it was difficult to control appropriately by only using three existing regulatory of leaching toxicity, corrosiveness, and infectiousness because of various characteristics of wastes generated in numerous industrial processes. Therefore, the variety of hazard must be considered. Second, the categorization of recycling types and classification of the environmental assessment procedure are needed (Sections 4.2 and 4.3). If the minimum principles and matters of compliance are satisfied according to the assessment procedure suitable for each recycling type of categorization, the approval of recycling is acceptable. For example, compared to recycling types for securing the raw material or manufacturing the specific product, the thermal energy recovery requires additional assessment about incineration facility. In recycling of embankment material or sub-base layer material, the contamination of the soil, surface water, and underground water by the interaction with the recycled site and the peripheral site is verified in the assessment procedure. Therefore, the environmental assessment procedure must be classified according to the categorized recycling types. The details are described as shown below.
2016a). The analysis method of each item is provided in the Official Wastes Test Method (Ministry of Environment Notification; No.2017-54) (Ministry of Environment, 2017). In addition, ‘a few types of wastes and relevant industries that must be verified as a hazard’ was suggested in the environment assessment procedure through the Ministry of Environment Notification (No. 2016-182) (Ministry of Environment, 2016d). As shown in total environmental assessment (Fig. 3), the target waste to be recycled must be verified for which the Notification is applicable. If included in the few types of wastes and relevant industries suggested by the Notification, the waste must be tested to satisfy the standard in Table 2. Based on the results, waste must be recycled for eliminating or stabilizing the hazard by using the physical, chemical, and biological treatment methods. However, there is one exception. If it is recycled by a specific hazardous property, the aforementioned procedure is unnecessary. For example, a waste acid is included as hazardous waste suggested by the Notification due to the very high corrosiveness, but in case of recycling as a neutralizing agent there is no necessity to eliminate or stabilize the hazard in the waste recycling.
4.1. Reinforcement of hazardous property
Recycling type in new environmental assessment procedure was categorized diversely into the reuse, the recovery of useful resources, the manufacturing into specific product and the raw material, the landfill-type utilization, and the thermal energy recovery, as shown in Table 3 (Ministry of Environment, 2018b). Examining each type of recycling, recycling type No. 1 (R-1) is the type of the reuse of the target waste without any treatment.
According to the concept of reinforcement of hazardous property, 6 items of explosiveness, flammability, combustibility, reaction with water, oxidation and eco-toxicity were newly added into existing 3 items. The definition and standard for each item were specified as shown in Table 2 (Ministry of Environment,
4.2. Categorization of recycling type
Table 2 Definition and standard of nine hazardous properties that must be identified in recycling (Ministry of Environment, 2016a). Item
Definition
Standard
Explosiveness
Waste causing chemical reaction to produce gas that causing damage to the surroundings through temperature, pressure and reaction speed
Flammability
Waste being combusted frequently during the move, or causing fire or generating flammable steam under friction or below certain temperature
Combustibility
Waste generating heat naturally at room temperature and atmospheric pressure during the move, or generating heat to cause fire when contacting with air
Reaction with water Oxidation
Waste interacting with the water to be ignited naturally, or emitting flammable gas consistently Waste having the property of not being self-combusted, but producing oxygen to cause or promote the combustion of other substances
Leaching toxicity
Waste having the hazardous property to health or life when the contained hazardous substance is eluted
Infectiousness
Waste giving concerns for harm such as infection to the human body
Corrosiveness
Waste causing damage to biological tissue after contact, or causing chemical reaction to the items or the transportation equipment to cause damage Waste causing negative impact on the microorganism immediately or after fixed period of time when discharged into the ecosystem, due to the bio-toxicity or bio-accumulative effect from the hazardous substance
When inserted into the vessel container and 690 kPa of pressure is applied to induce ignition and explosion, it refers to the internal pressure of 2,070 kPa or more A. Liquid waste: In sealed state at temperature of under 60.5 °C or open state at under 65.5 °C, it refers to the discharge of flammable steam. B. Non-liquid waste: (1) Metal waste: when flame is in contact with the waste for 5 min for ignition, it refers to the combustion completely within 10 min. (2) Non-metal waste: when flame is in contact with the waste for 2 min for ignition, it refers to the combustion of over 100 mm within 45 s. A. Liquid waste: when inserted into the inactive carrier (porous substance that does not react to other substances) and in contact with air, it refers to the ignition within 5 min, or when the filter paper (the liquid waste is dropped on the filter paper to be penetrated) is in contact with air, it refers to the ignition or carbonization within 5 min. B. Non-liquid waste: when in contact with air, it refers to the ignition within 5 min. When reacting 1 kg of waste with water rapidly at room temperature, it refers to the generated gas volume of 20 L per hour or more A. Liquid waste: when comparing the pressure increase time, it refers to the mixture of liquid waste and cellulose (mass ratio 1:1) being lower than (or same as) 65% (w/w) nitrate solution and cellulose (1:1). B. Non-liquid waste: when comparing the maximum combustion speed, it refers to the non-liquid waste being faster than the standard substance [6:4 = barium nitrate : cellulose]. It refers to the result of the leaching test designed in the Waste Process Test Standard exceeding the standard of harmful substances mentioned in Table 1. There is no criterion and test method, but the waste is defined as infectious substance according to the emission source and channel. It refers to the liquid state or soluble state in the water limited to the range of less than pH 2 and higher than pH 12.5, or the corrosion speed of over 6.35 mm/year. It refers to the acute eco-toxicity on the water flea to exceed 2.0 of TU (Toxic Unit) using the eluate obtained from the leaching test of up-flow permeability method with the column-type reaction.
Eco-toxicity
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Table 3 Classification of recycling type related with the environmental assessment procedure (Ministry of Environment, 2018b). Recycling type
Definition
Environmental assessment type
R-1
Reuse of the target waste without any treatment Reuse of the target waste with simple physical treatment such as washing, repair, etc. Recovery of valuable material from the target waste Manufacture using the target waste in all areas except agriculture or soil improving Manufacture for agriculture or soil improving using the target waste R-5: fertilizer (including compost and manure), feeds, etc. R-6: soil amendment, greening, etc. Use as embankment material, landfill-cover material, sub-base layer material, etc. Recovery of thermal energy from the target waste R-8: auxiliary fuel of cement kiln or recovering thermal energy through incineration facility R-9: manufacturing the wastes into liquid, solid, and gas fuel product through refining, emulsification, etc.
Product Type Procedure (PTP)
R-2
R-3 R-4 R-5 and R-6
R-7 R-8 and R-9
Landfill Type Procedure (LTP) Product Type Procedure (PTP)
The target waste for recycling is maintained in its original form and use without any change in the physical, chemical and biological properties through any specific recycling process. Recycling type No. 2 (R-2) is the reuse type of the target waste treated by simple physical methods such as washing, repair, etc. The recycling mode of R-2 is the reuse type of the waste maintained in its original form like the R-1 type, but simple physical treatment process is required to remove any undesired substances. Recycling type No. 3 (R-3) is the type of the recovery of valuable material from the target waste, and its four representative types are below. Type 1: recovering metal or non-metal resources from the target waste through the physical processes of disassembly, separation, crushing, grinding, etc., Type 2: recovering metal or non-metal resources from the target waste through the chemical processes of melting, dissolution, precipitation, extraction, etc., Type 3: refining the target waste into raw material for paper, metal, glass, synthetic resin, fiber, and rubber products through the processes of separation, crushing, melting, dissolution, precipitation, extraction, etc., Type 4: refining the target waste into raw material for other than paper, metal, glass, synthetic resin, fiber, and rubber products through the processes of separation, crushing, melting, dissolution, precipitation, extraction, etc. R-3 can be considered in terms of two different modes. First is the separation of useful substances from wastes (depending on the purity and recovery rate) and it follows the specific purification procedure considering the economic benefit and the recovery rate. Whereas, second is the refining target waste into raw material (depending on the quality of the raw materials for desired product). This mode follows the quality standard (stability, chemical composition, purity, etc.) of the raw material used for the product and may not have high correlation with the recycling rate. Recycling type No. 4 (R-4) is the type of the manufacture using target waste in all areas except agriculture or soil improving, and the following types are included.
Type 1: manufacturing metallic products composed of ferrous or non-ferrous metal, Type 2: manufacturing non-metallic products such as aggregate, glass, cement, concrete or ready-mixed concrete, refractories, ceramic product, etc., Type 3: manufacturing various paper products such as pulp, corrugated cardboard, envelope, etc. Type 4: manufacturing rubber, fiber or synthetic resin products, Type 5: manufacturing wood products such as lumber product, sawdust-type product, coal briquette, etc., Type 6: manufacturing petroleum products such as organic solvent, lubricant, etc., Type 7: manufacturing chemical products such as organic and inorganic compound, pigment, paint, colorant, etc., Type 8: manufacturing oil and fat products such as animal and vegetable oil, soap, etc., Type 9: manufacturing products improving the water quality such as the water treatment agent, organic carbon source, flocculant, etc. Recycling type No. 5 and No. 6 (R-5 and R-6) refer to the manufacture for agriculture or soil improving using the target waste. R5 is the type of recycling organic and inorganic wastes contributing to the agriculture, such as fertilizers (including compost and manure) and feeds. R-6 is the type of recycling organic wastes improving the soil quality and producing soil amendment, greening, etc. Recycling type No. 7 (R-7) refers to the type recycled embankment material, landfill-cover material, sub-base layer material, etc. In other words, it is a substituting the function of the soil, in which relatively larger scale of land is required in comparison with other recycling types. In addition, there is long-term or possible direct contact with the soil, underground water, surface water and seawater, etc. The following types are included in R-7. Type 1: utilizing embankment material, sub-base layer material and road-base material in civil engineering and construction work, Type 2: utilizing embankment material or backfill material in public water surface area, Type 3: utilizing liner or landfill-cover materials in landfill facilities, Type 4: utilizing fill material in restored site or lowland within the quarrying area of the stony mountain, Type 5: utilizing corrosion inhibiting material in the outdoor tank for oil storage or underground pipe, Type 6: utilizing embankment material in the agricultural area. Recycling type No. 8 and No. 9 (R-8 and R-9) are categorized as the recovery of thermal energy from the target waste in the state of direct or indirect collection. In the R-8 (direct collection), auxiliary fuel of cement kiln or recovering the thermal energy through the incineration are included. As for the R-9 (indirect collection), remanufacturing the wastes into liquid, solid, and gas fuel product through refining, emulsification, etc., which can be classified into the four types below. Type 1: manufacturing solid fuel product such as solid refuse fuel (SRF), biomass-solid refuse fuel (BIO-SRF), etc., Type 2: manufacturing liquid- and gas-fuel through the chemical treatment such as thermal decomposition, carbonization, etc., Type 3: manufacturing liquid- and gas-fuel through the biological treatment such as an aerobic digestion and decomposition, etc., Type 4: manufacturing the fuel for thermoelectric power plants and combined heat and power plant.
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4.3. Classification of environmental assessment procedure depending on the recycling type Environmental assessment procedure depending on the recycling types from R-1 to R-9 is classified into Product Type Procedure (PTP) and Landfill Type Procedure (LTP). Because R-7 has high possibility of long-term direct contact with the soil, underground water, surface water and seawater, etc., it is estimated by the assessment procedure, which is set as the LTP. Whereas, other types except for R-7 define as the PTP. In addition, to provide the effective procedure on the PTP, it is classified into manufacture-, recovery-, and energy-procedure. The manufacture-procedure means the re-manufacturing (or reusing) the wastes into the specific product, where R-1, -2, -4, -5, and -6 are included. The recovery-
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procedure and the energy-procedure include R-3 and R-8 and R-9, respectively. Figs. 1 and 2 show the environmental assessment procedures of PTP and LTP. As shown in Fig. 1, the procedure on the PTP works on two estimation stages of field survey and product survey. As for the recovery-procedure (R-3), the field survey method is slightly different depending on the recovery of valuable material or refining into the raw material, but basically it verifies the essential particulars such as harmful additional liquid substance/material (i.e. strong acid solution used for recovery (or refining) in the acidleachate process), leakage risk of harmful liquid substance/material at the recycling process site, countermeasure for solving the leakage risk, treatment system of the secondary wastes (waste water, slag, slime and dust, etc.) generated during the recycling
Fig. 1. Environmental assessment procedure of product type consisting of manufacture (R-1, R-2, R-4, R-5, and R-6), recovery (R-3), and energy (R-8 and R-9).
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Fig. 2. Environmental assessment procedure of landfill type (R-7).
process, etc. In the field survey of manufacture-procedure (R-1, -2, -4, -5, and -6), the manufacturing facility, product-fault rate (or product quality), harmfulness of the final product must be considered as the essential particulars. Whereas, in the energy-procedure, the field survey particulars about the incineration facility must be added; the possibility of air pollution during incineration process, stability of the incineration heat collection system, the treatment system of residue after the incineration, etc. can be verified. The field survey is performed with assessment under the objective decision of the survey-team (organized with personnel in environmental assessment institution and external experts). The field survey is not dependent on the analysis. However, if needed, the surrounding environment of the recycling process site in terms of
three parts can be analyzed. The first part is atmospheric-impact analysis around the recycling process: air quality, odor, scattered dust, noise and vibration, etc. The second part is waterenvironmental-impact analysis around the recycling process: waste water, leachate, and underground water, etc. The third part is soil-impact analysis around the recycling process: content, elution, etc. In the next estimation stage, the product survey is to be divided into three steps, as shown in Fig. 1. In the first step the benchmark is set-up (in a temporary standard value). In a second step it is measured through the relevant analysis method. In a third step the analyzed result is compared with the standard value for verification. For example, in case of the recovery-procedure, the
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required benchmark items including recycling or removal rate, purity, element concentration, chemical composition, etc. can be set with the standard value. For the energy-procedure, the lowheating value related to the requirement of the energy gain factor, chlorine content of residue after incineration, heavy metal, ash, moisture, sulfur, etc. can become the benchmark items. In the manufacture-procedure, the items including heavy metal content, leaching concentration, etc. can be used as the benchmark along with the quality standard of target product. LTP, which is relevant to the R-7, is divided into field survey and landfill survey. As shown in Fig. 2, if the target waste for R-7 is stable, the pretreatment, such as stabilization, separation, cleaning, etc., is not required for recycling and the field survey of recycling process site is not needed in the LTP procedure. However, if required, the recycling process site must be verified by the
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check list including the leakage of harmful substance in the surrounding environment, countermeasure of the leakage, treatment of the waste during the recycling process, etc. In addition, if needed, atmospheric-impact analysis, water-environmentalimpact analysis, and soil-impact analysis are performed, like the field survey in PTP. The site used for R-7 is substituted with wastes contacting with the soil, underground water, surface water and seawater, etc. in the long term range of field survey. Therefore, the site used for R-7 must be performed with the field survey below. o Verification on the area designated by the law as protection and environmental preservation o Survey on the site by visual classification, taking soil sample from each area, chemical analysis, etc.
Fig. 3. Combined decision tree of total environmental assessment.
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o Investigation on rapid change in pH (acidic or alkaline) due to the mixture of target waste and soil on the site Unlike the product survey in the PTP, the landfill survey in the LTP provides the following four fixed survey steps for the target waste used for R-7; step 1, is the content analysis of hazardous substances such as Cd, Hg, As, Pb, etc.; step 2, is the leaching test using a column-type reactor; step 3, is the modeling; step 4, is the estimation of field application with a pilot-scale test. It has limitation of survey step through the standards of waste amount (20,000 tons) and site area (5,000 m2) used for R-7. If both do not exceed the standard, it can be simplified with only two steps of content analysis and leaching test. In the step 2, the leaching test follows the method of up-flow permeability using the columntype reactor; the complicated leaching process has to be simplified to identify the substances of possible elution into the natural environment or site. The up-flow permeability method and device of leaching test is designed and provided by the Official Wastes Test Standard (Ministry of Environment, 2017). The step 3 is predicting and evaluating based on the numerical analysis; in this modeling, the liquid pollutant is quantitatively evaluated, which has an impact on the peripheral environment. However, the modeling is not provided in the specific method, such as the modeling type, standard for estimation, required factor, etc. The method can be decided based on the results of content analysis (step 1), leaching test (step 2), and field survey. The estimation of field application in the step 4 refers to the evaluating the stabilization of target waste in the environmental condition similar to the site used as R-7 using the simulated analysis on the actual site in the form of pilot-scale plant under the fixed test condition. Considering the reinforcement of hazardous property (Section 4.1), categorization of recycling type (Section 4.2), and classification of environmental assessment procedure depending on the recycling type (in this section), the total flow-chart of environmental assessment can be obtained, as shown in Fig. 3. 5. New policy framework with strategic environmental assessment New policy framework, as shown in Fig. 4, has the total system chart with four organizations; the company or individual for recycling; the environmental assessment institution for performing the procedure of environmental assessment depending on the recycling type; the approval institution for evaluating the validity on the result obtained from the environmental assessment institution and deciding the approval; the government for issuing the permit on the approval. All of the organizations have same objectives and are intimately connected to one another. The details are described as below.
The recycling company or individual prepares the data of target waste used for recycling, summary with purpose and method of recycling, information related to facility and equipment used in recycling. If possible, the sample of final product should be prepared. Along with the prepared data, the documents required for the application are prepared for submitting to the environmental assessment institution (①). The environmental assessment institution reviews the submitted data and documents and then performs the environmental assessment procedure depending on PTP or LTP. After the assessment, the report on assessment result is delivered to the recycling company or individual applied for the environmental assessment (②). The report and other required documents are submitted to the approval institution (③), and the approval institution reviews the report and relevant documents through the procedure specified in Fig. 5. If the submitted report and relevant documents are insufficient, they are refused or the modification or the additional documents are requested. After reviewing, violations against the Wastes Control Act must be identified. If required, the relevant recycling site may be visited to check for compliance with the submitted report and relevant documents. In addition, consultative committee with external experts must be organized to evaluate the appropriateness of environmental assessment; in consultation meeting, extract comments and opinions form the external experts have to be made. After verifying all results, the approval is decided by the approval institution decides the approval. If the recycling company or individual receives formal notification of approval as ‘‘enable” from the approval institution (④), the approval notification must be submitted to the government (⑤) to be issued with the permit (⑥). For the successful stabilization of the new policy framework, the role of the government is very important. The government must lead the economic support to the recycling company or individual, activate the educational program on the environmental assessment, review supplements on the new policy framework, establish and revise additional ordinances, and collect opinions from main organizations related with the new policy framework. Currently, many companies or individuals in Korea are trying to understand the environmental assessment procedure, and the government is performing relevant educational programs to increase the level of understanding. Indeed, many companies and individuals already received the permit through the new procedure of environmental assessment or they are under progress. 6. Application in Wastes Control Act Ministry of Environment established and revised the Wastes Control Act, Enforcement Ordinance, Enforcement Regulation, and Ministry of Environment Notification to realize the new policy
Fig. 4. Approval and permission chart with four organizations provided by the new policy framework. The numbers represent: (①) application for environmental assessment; (②) sending of assessment report; (③) sending of assessment report and approval request; (④) notification of approval decision; (⑤) submission of approval notice; (⑥) issue of the permit.
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Fig. 5. Role of approval institution for handling of assessment report and approval request from the recycling company or individual.
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framework with environmental assessment, as shown in Table 4. First, the article on the general recycling principles was newly included in the Wastes Control Act along with the definition of environmental assessment. Accordingly, the basic articles on the designation of environmental assessment institution, the environmental assessment performance, and the necessity of complying with the standard of harmfulness regarding the recycled product and raw material are followed. Next, in the Enforcement Ordinance of the Wastes Control Act, the compliance matters for waste recycling were added. Here, it is specified that the waste must be treated by the recycling procedure for eliminating or stabilizing the hazard relevant to the 9 items using the physical, chemical and biological treatment. Also, the approval condition of recycling according to the environmental assessment is provided as four items, mentioned in Section 2. In addition, the definitions of the environmental assessment institution and wastes prohibited or restricted against recycling were added. In the Enforcement Regulation, the list of common standard and the types of prohibited or restricted waste are specified through ‘Common Standard and Detailed Compliance Matters on the Recycling of Wastes’ in Article 14-3. Also, the procedure and method of the environmental assessment and the procedure, notification, and condition of approval decision are specified. Moreover, detailed qualification of the environmental assessment institution such as the designation, modification of designation, preparation of the assessment report, and inspection of the designated institution are specified. The additional detailed matters with the definition and relevant standard of hazardous properties, the procedure and method of environmental assessment, the preparation method of the environmental assessment report, etc., as mentioned in the Enforcement Ordinance and Enforcement Regulation of the Wastes Control Act, are provided through the Ministry of Environment Notification.
Table 4 Established and revised Wastes Control Act, Enforcement Ordinance, Enforcement Regulation, and Notification of Ministry of Environment for new policy framework with strategic environmental assessment. Wastes Control Act (was implemented from 20 July 2015) (Ministry of Environment, 2018c) s Principles of Environmental Assessment on Recycling of Wastes; Article 13-3 s Designation of Environmental Assessment Institution; Article 13-4 s Standard on Harmfulness of Recycled Products or Raw Materials; Article 13-5 Enforcement Ordinance of Wastes Control Act (was implemented from 21 July 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2018a) s Compliance Matters on the Recycling of Wastes; Article 7-2 s Wastes Prohibited or Restricted Against Recycling; Article 7-3 s Approval Condition of Recycling According to the Environmental Assessment; Article 7-4 s Definition of Environmental Assessment Institution; Article 7-5 Enforcement Regulation of Wastes Control Act (was implemented from 21 July 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2018b) s Common Standard and Detailed Compliance Matters on the Recycling of wastes; Article 14-3 s Procedures and Methods of Environment Assessment; Article 14-4 s Company or Individual Applied for Environmental Assessment; Article 14-5 s Procedure of Approval on the Environmental Assessment; Article 14-6 s Notification of Approval on the Environmental Assessment; Article 14-7 s Condition of Approval on the Environmental Assessment; Article 14-8 s Qualification for the Designation of Environmental Assessment Institution; Article 14-9 s Modification of Designated Environmental Assessment Institution; Article 14-10 s Preparation of the Environmental Assessment Report; Article 14-11 s Inspection of the Environmental Assessment Institution; Article 14-12 Ministry of Environment Notification s Definition and Standard of Hazardous Properties; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-146 (was implemented from 21 July 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2016a) s Regulation on the Types of Wastes and Relevant Industries that must be Verified as a Hazard; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-182 (was implemented from 9 Sept, 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2016d) s Regulation on the Detailed Procedures and Methods of Environmental Assessment; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-144 (was implemented from 21 July 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2016b) s Regulation on the Detailed Preparation Method of the Environmental Assessment Report; Ministry of Environment Notification No. 2016-145 (was implemented from 21 July 2016) (Ministry of Environment, 2016c)
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7. Conclusions
Acknowledgement
In Korea, the new policy framework including the strategic environmental assessment as the effective waste management method was promoted for achieving the concept with the important strategies toward the waste reduction, preservation of landfill area, stabilization and removal of hazardous substance in wastes, and optimal treatment for energy and material recovery from wastes. To realize this concept, first, strategic environment assessment was provided in approach through two perspectives. The reinforcement of waste management to control the hazard in recycling is needed. The 9 items of hazardous properties with leaching toxicity, infectiousness, corrosiveness, explosiveness, flammability, combustibility, reaction with water, oxidation, and eco-toxicity are specified. The categorization of recycling types and classification of the environmental assessment procedure are needed. The recycling type is categorized diversely into the reuse, the recovery of useful resources, the manufacture into specific product and the raw material of the product, the large-scale landfill-type utilization, and the thermal energy recovery. In addition, the environmental assessment procedure depending on the recycling types are classified into product type procedure (PTP) and landfill type procedure (LTP). Second, based on the environmental assessment, the new policy framework with four organizations was built; the company or individual for recycling; the environmental assessment institution for performing the procedure of environmental assessment depending on the recycling type; the approval institution for evaluating the validity on the result obtained from the environmental assessment institution and deciding the approval; the government for issuing the permit on the approval. Final, the Ministry of Environment established and revised the articles in Wastes Control Act, Enforcement Ordinance, and Enforcement Regulation and Ministry of Environment Notifications to realize the new policy framework.
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