Controversy over Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs avoiding responsibility for waste agricultural plastic and pesticide containers piling up in rural fields

Hundreds of thousands of tons of waste agricultural plastic and waste pesticide containers are piling up in rural fields every year, but it has been pointed out that the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the responsible ministry, is busy passing responsibility to other ministries and local governments.

According to data received from the Korea Environment Corporation and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on the 2nd by Rep. Yoon Jun-byeong of the Democratic Party of Korea (Jeongeup, Gochang, Jeollabuk-do), a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee, the total amount of agricultural waste plastic generated over the past three years (2022-2024) reached 895,513 tons.

During the same period, the number of discarded agricultural pesticide containers amounted to 235.23 million.

In particular, the number of agricultural waste pesticide containers increased by 16.2% in one year from approximately 73.82 million in 2023 to 85.75 million in 2024.

By region, it was concentrated in major concentration areas such as Daegu, Gyeongbuk, Gwangju, Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, and South Chungcheong.

As large amounts of agricultural waste are generated, side effects such as soil and water pollution and forest fires are occurring due to illegal incineration and neglect.

However, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has been avoiding responsibility on the grounds that agricultural waste management is either under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment or is the work of local governments.

The Clean Rural Village Creation (rural waste collection support project) introduced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs as a new project this year was also embroiled in controversy over its effectiveness.

Although 56 cities and counties across the country are operating clean rural groups, it is pointed out that they are limited to simply supporting manpower to pick up trash in public places in villages, and are far from fundamental solutions such as expanding large-scale agricultural waste vinyl collection points or collecting waste pesticide containers.

Rep. Yoon said, “Hundreds of thousands of tons of waste are damaging the environment of farming and fishing villages every year, but the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the responsible ministry, is just folding its arms,” and urged, “We must urgently prepare comprehensive measures, including expansion of agricultural waste collection bases and a practical collaboration system between related ministries.”