산업폐기물의 적정처리를 위한 법적 방안 연구 = A Study on the Regulation of Industrial Waste Management

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The Waste Management Act regulates the all the kinds of wastes from the cradle to grave. The law classifies wastes as home `wastes` and `office wastes`(which is mostly industrial wastes). Among `office wastes,` `specified wastes`(an euphemism of hazardous wastes) and `infectious wastes` are more heavily regulated. It is the principle that ‘the home wastes` are collected, transported, and disposed by the local governments and `the office wastes` are by the generators. `Office waste` generators are responsible for the proper treatment of them. However they can lighten their burden by entrusting their duty to the waste treatment service providers. Many sections of the Waste Management Act focus on regulating the waste treatment service providers. The Waste Management Act does not regulate on generator`s responsibility in treatment of office wastes. The Ministry of Environment gives the waste treatment service provider higher credit for the proper treatment of wastes. That is why the government gives support to the waste treatment industry to develop new technology and build higher credibility. However, the current policy which is favoring the treatment of wastes by the treatment service providers has a serious problem. It is the lack of motivation to proper management and waste reducement. Waste generators are motivated to deliver their wastes to waste treatment providers with cheap price as they can find. Once the dump has gone, they have no more headache. What they have to do is just to check whether the service provider has the legitimate documents including government permit. The treatment service providers are also motivated to find out more customers and the cheaper way to throw out the entrusted wastes. The complicated method under the regulation takes a lot of costs. As much as they evade the strict duty under the law their profit goes up. All the burden to monitor their operation goes to the government. However the shortage of the government resources makes difficult to monitor in a proper way. Proper treatment of industrial wastes leads to the safety of the human and environment. To make the system work better, government must impose strict responsibility on the generator of `office wastes.` Even if they entrust their wastes to the others they should be remained responsible for the potential mistreatment of their wastes. By imposing this responsibility, we can make the generator more considerate about reducement and recycling of the wastes and cooperate with treatment providers for the proper treatment of their wastes.