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Some 10 million tons of waste a year are thrown into Korean waters, environmentalists say. In a protest on Tuesday, fisherman backed by some 30 members of the Incheon chapter of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement urged the government to ban dumping waste into the sea from Yeonan Pier in Incheon Port on Wednesday.
According to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the amount of waste dumped into the sea has been on the rise since 1988, when a law permitting it was enacted. It rose from 1.07 million tons in 1990 to 9.93 tons in 2005, one third of it dumped off Incheon port. The waste includes human feces, animal farm discharges and food leftovers, which are carried in containers and dumped into the sea.
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Used gas cans, rubber hoses, clothes and steel plates litter waters off Jeju Island.
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The ministry runs two waste sites on the east coast and one on the west coast. The reason for the increase is simple: dumping waste into the sea is up to 15 times cheaper than recycling or incinerating it on land. The ministry promised to reduce the amount of maritime waste by 1 million tons every year and to less than half of the current volume by 2011.
Cho Kang-hee, the head of the KFEM's Incheon chapter, said if Korea doesnĄ¯t stop dumping waste into the sea right now, it will be unable to prevent China from doing so on a massive scale in the future.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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