Lessons

1. Closed Waste Landfill as common assets of the future

Idle public land such as waste landfills must be utilized as common assets of the future, rather than for commercial purposes. The fact that upper part of the dumping site now be used as a park that the citizen of Seoul are proud of are also very outstanding. Through this, there was sufficient justification to block off environmental damages resulting from the landfill as well as satisfying the legal conditions of 20-30 year after-closure management. It acts as a backdrop park for the region and also helps development of the worn and torn area giving the opportunity for people to experience an eco-park where they can enjoy nature. If the Nanjido dumping site was used for commercial purposes, this place would have been filled with a bunch of gray concrete skyscrapers.


2. Use of Appropriate Technology for Unsanitary Landfills

Appropriate environmental management is possible for unsanitary landfills as well. The Nanjido dumping site at the time when garbage was buried, it was the epitome of a unsanitary landfill without any countermeasures for landfill gas, leachate, waste scattering, and pests. Even after the closure of wastes dumping site, massive heaps of garbage that stood 100m high made it difficult to establish an engineering plan for environmental management. The facts that a park would be established in this area, the 2002 FIFA World Cup main stadium would be built here, and the fact that this area would be the home to the New Millennium Town required strict environmental management of the Nanjido dumping site. However, the SCG achieved stabilization of the waste layer by maximizing the use of nature's healing abilities and blocked pollutants from being exposed to the environment by appropriate engineering measures. The results were highly satisfactory. Many visitors never notice the environmental problems in this site since landfill gas and leachate are being properly collected and treated.


3. An opportunity for the socially vulnerable people

The establishment of a park acted as an opportunity to provide a dwelling place for the socially vulnerable people who lived next to the dumping site. To the people of Nanjido who made a living on picking recyclables from the waste of the site, Nanjido Dumping site was an important site for survival (824 households, 3,103 people). The Nanjido dumping site was closed in March 1993 but many of the residents did not have resources to leave their place of residence, which were shabby and in danger of collapse. Thus, the SCG brokered jobs to over 400 households and created jobs, while helping them to move such as giving them rights to move into leased apartments, etc. 


4. Landfill Gas Use

Collected landfill gas was used as regional heating fuel. At the World Cup Park, a total of 106 landfill gas collection wells - 58 wells in Noeul Park and 48 wells in Haneul Park - were installed to collect the landfill gas generated from the waste layer. From the landfill gas, valuable substance as fuel was methane gas (CH4). The total amount of landfill gas used as fuel from 2002 to 2013 was 232,572,000㎥, which can be monetarily converted to approximately 8.2 billion won. Landfill gas is used as part of the fuel of the Korea District Heating Corporation that supplies heating to three public buildings, 16,335 apartment households and 36 office buildings. Landfill gas occurs naturally and unless used as such, it leads to exhaust of methane or carbon dioxide, which is known to cause global warming.


5. Environmental Education Venue

The World Cup Park is recognized as a place for international environmental education. Approximately 3,000 domestic and foreign public officials and concerned persons visit the World Cup Park every year. They come to benchmark the landfill that was transformed into a park and to visit the Mapo Resource Recovery Facility (incinerator) and Korea District Heating Corporation (that uses landfill gas and incinerator heat as heat sources for regional heating) located at the World Cup Park. Meanwhile, World Cup Park received the UN Habitats Special Award in 2010. This award is given to individuals, institutes and businesses recognized for making remarkable contributions for providing housing for humanity and in relation to sustainable urban development.


6. A Guide for Post-care of Unsanitary Landfills 

The restoration of the Nanjido as World Cup Park was a turning point for landfill management. During the period of 1978 to 1993 when the Nanjido dumping site was operated, the only regulation on waste landfill in Korea was on how to cover up the landfill. More detailed landfill regulations appeared after enactment of the 1991 waste management act, and this was when the Nanjido dumping site was preparing to finish burial of wastes. Management methods after closing landfill were established in 1998 and this was when the Nanjido was already beginning its stabilization work. After the Nanjido dumping site was closed, the government made huge revisions to relevant regulations. Landfills now have to be built in a appropriate area and should have a basis to minimize environmental damages in the establishment phase. The government prescribed methods to prevent environmental damages by the facility during burial of wastes. It also specified to treat and monitor pollutants for a certain period of time after the landfill was closed.