The reclaimed land at landfill site near Incheon city is used for Golf Course and Dream Park. A power plant produces electricity using the gas generated from the landfill site     

By Nasir Aijaz

Incheon, South Korea

The Republic of Korea has successfully reclaimed 16 million square meter (1600 ha) land by dumping the waste in the sea from three cities, at Sudokwon Landfill site near the coastal city of Incheon. The land so reclaimed is equal to 2300 soccer fields.

The Sudokwon Landfill, located 35km east of Incheon International Airport, is the world’s largest landfill area, which has three landfill sites, of which two sites have been completed and the reclamation at third site is currently in progress. Since 1992, the waste from three cities – Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon has been brought and dumped at Sudokwon landfill.

The project is being executed by Sudokwon Landfill Management Corporation, an agency under the Ministry of Environment. Under the project approximately 5500 tons of waste is brought per day in about 350 vehicles. The waste includes domestic waste, food waste and residual waste from construction sites.

In 1992, when the landfilling first began, about 40, 000 tons of waste was brought per day, but the quantity of waste decreased to 15000 tons per day in 2014 and further decreased to 5500 tons per day last year. The reason for the decrease was the state-led waste reduction policy, according to a report circulated by the Sudokwon Landfill Management Corporation among the delegation of journalists from nine Asian countries on April 26, 2024. The journalists’ visit was organized by Asia Journalists’ Association (AJA). Young Min Kim, Vice President of Ecobio Holdings Co., Ltd. running the dumpsite, also gave detailed briefing to the foreign journalists.

The report says that the first landfill site was completed from February 1992 to October 2000 with a total of 64 million tons of waste buried there. Currently, the upper part of the first landfill site has been opened as a public golf course called Dream Park since 2013, and is used by 160, 000 citizens annually. The 2014 Asian Games golf match and the US Women’s Open Championship were held at this golf course. It was also selected as the best eco-friendly golf course in Korea. All profits generated from golf course are being reinvested in the region through discussions with local residents.  Some 10 million trees are being planted around the international standard golf course.

As the buried waste at reclaimed land of site one is sinking and has subsided 7.2m due to decay of the waste, the stabilization work continues simultaneously. The landfill is sinking at an average rate of 2.4cm per year.

Leachate Treatment Plant

As the time passes, the trash rots and generates gas and leachate (The percolated water). On an average 4900 tons of leachate is generated per day at all the three landfill sites. The leachate is transported to the leachate treatment plant through pipes installed on floor, and is discharged into the West Sea after 2-week purification process. The low-salinity wastewater has been used to remove fugitive dust from upper part of the landfill and as water for the facilities. Meanwhile, the management corporation is building a system to reuse the leachate as much as possible.

Further, as the waste at landfill site 2 is dry and is not decomposing well, the biologically treated water is being injected to moisten the waste and circulated to promote the decomposition.

Power Generation

The Corporation has also installed a power plant that generates electricity using the gas discharged from the landfill sites. The plant is capable of producing 50MW electricity per hour. The plant was completed in December 2006 and full-scale commercial operation began in March 2007. Currently, the power plant has a daily power generation of 675 MWh, which generates 70, 000 USD in electricity sales revenue per day. Moreover, over the past ten years, landfill gas power generation has reduced carbon emissions equivalent to the amount emitted by 3.4 million passenger cars in one year.

The Sudokwon Landfill also carries out projects to turn waste into resources. It has saved 3057, 000 USD per year by turning sewage sludge, discarded into the sea, into organic dry fuel and supplying it to thermal power plants.

Greenhouse

The nursery greenhouse produces plants to be used in turning the Sudokwon Landfill into Dream Park. The greenhouse uses gas generated from food wastewater as a heat source and hosts spring and fall flower festivals for citizens by displaying plants grown here. It has also created jobs for 1700 local residents annually. There is also a Cherry Tree Road about 2km long and wild flower complex measuring 630, 000 square meter. The wild flower complex also has a swimming pool and dog park for citizens to use. Some 240, 000 citizens used this park last year.

Read: Personal Observations: Korea – The Lamp of Asia

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