Forecasting Waste Agricultural Plastics Generation in the Republic of Korea and its Policy Implications

Abstract

The generation of waste plastics mulch is predicted to decline after 2019 and then stabilize at around 200,000 tons per year. This is within the current gross treatment capacity of private and public facilities. However, the Korean Waste Agricultural Plastics (WAP) management system is vulnerable to market uncertainty, which might lead to uncontrollable accumulation of untreated waste plastics as experienced in 2005. Shifting from the KECO (Korea Environment Corporation)-led system to a more flexible market-oriented system is recommended.