BUSAN — Conflict over a planned regional household waste incinerator in Saenggok-dong, Gangseo-gu, Busan, is escalating ahead of a 2030 ban on direct landfilling of household waste. The dispute between the Busan metropolitan government and local politicians has widened into a fight over whether the site is appropriate and whether a decade of administrative procedures was legitimate.
After Gangseo-gu politicians, including People Power Party lawmaker Kim Do-eup, pushed back strongly and demanded the project be scrapped and moved to an alternative site, the city released related documents and reaffirmed its position that the project must proceed at the existing Saenggok site.
The city held a briefing at city hall on the 17th to rebut the main points Kim's side raised at a press conference opposing the Saenggok incinerator on the 16th. According to materials released by the city, Kim's office requested work reports and documents on relocating Saenggok residents and building a new incinerator on multiple occasions between 2017 and this year, and the city provided both in-person and written briefings. In December 2023 it submitted requested materials on "relocation of Saenggok residents and construction of a new incinerator," and in January 2025 on "closure of the Myeongji incinerator and construction of a new incinerator."
The city also directly rebutted claims about the sequence of the resident relocation and the incinerator siting decision. It said that after deciding in March 2017 to relocate the Saenggok village as a group, it had already planned a 400-ton-per-day incineration facility and a 200-ton food waste recycling facility through a feasibility study and master plan commissioned that same year. The legal process was then completed when a site selection committee decided the location of those facilities in June 2020, the city said.
The city also argues that the project's progress goes well beyond simple internal administrative review. A site selection plan was decided and announced in 2019, followed by the site selection committee in 2020, an agreement with Saenggok residents on relocation in 2022, and an urban management plan decision and public notice of the waste treatment facility site in 2023. In 2025, the city decided to pursue the project with public funds and finalized a master plan for construction of an 800-ton incineration facility along with a turnkey bidding method.
The city also ruled out the argument for an alternative site. It explained that moving the site to the Janghang or Yulli villages would require starting the legal process over from the beginning — re-announcing the site selection plan, forming a new site selection committee and commissioning a feasibility study from a specialized research institute — regardless of whether residents approve. The city argued the project could drift for years if compensation talks are delayed and additional complaints arise from neighboring areas.
The city also considers land set aside for support facilities at Gadeokdo New Airport unsuitable as an alternative. It said the candidate site sits about 250 meters from the runway and that installing a stack about 100 meters high could create an obstruction problem under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aviation safety standards.
The city rebutted comparisons with Incheon International Airport, saying the incinerator there sits in an outlying support facility complex 2.7 kilometers from the runway, making a direct comparison difficult. It added that because the support facility land is scheduled for completion in 2035, factoring in administrative procedures could push completion of the incinerator to 2042.
On the fairness controversy surrounding Eco Delta City, the city cited legal obligations. Eco Delta City, which covers about 3.59 million pyeong and is planned for 75,000 residents, is large enough that it must install its own incineration facility or pay an equivalent charge under related law. Instead of building a new incinerator inside the new town, the city said, it collected 19.2 billion won ($13 million) in facility charges from the project operators, Korea Water Resources Corporation and Busan Metropolitan Corporation, and substituted treatment at the Saenggok incinerator.
On the controversy over whether the project was shelved under the previous mayor, the city said flatly that "there is no official withdrawal document." It acknowledged answering at the time in the city council that an alternative site was "under review," but said that was not an official document or instruction deciding to scrap the project and cannot serve as a legal basis. Because the site selection committee decision in 2020 and the site decision and public notice in 2023 have already been completed, changing the site would require going through the procedures under the relevant laws again, the city stressed.
The conflict over the Saenggok incinerator is narrowing into a clash between the city, which is worried about sunk costs and a treatment gap once direct landfilling is banned in 2030, and local politicians demanding an alternative site on the grounds of resident acceptance and regional fairness. The city plans to improve resident acceptance with the latest pollution control equipment, a telemetry monitoring system (TMS) for emissions, district heating using waste heat and community sports facilities, but Kim and local politicians are demanding a full review of the existing project.
Kim and others urged the city at the council the previous day to immediately withdraw the plan to build the Saenggok incinerator, saying that "facilities people avoid and find objectionable cannot be pushed through unilaterally when residents oppose them." They also proposed the Gadeokdo New Airport support facility land and the Janghang and Yulli villages as alternative sites, saying "Gangseo can no longer be the garbage dump for all of Busan" and demanding a review of the approach of concentrating waste from across Busan in Gangseo-gu.
They also raised the issue of the existing Myeongji incinerator, arguing it should be closed immediately because it has already passed its service life while taking in waste from across Busan.
Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo said at a weekly policy meeting on Sept. 3 that "administrative procedures for the Saenggok incinerator have been halted by collective complaints," adding that "enormous sunk costs have gone in, and if it does not proceed as planned there is no way out." At a town hall meeting on the 14th, he also said he would disclose the administrative procedures that have continued since 2017 and discuss them with residents.
