The prestigious bi-annual Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT) Award of Columbia University’s Earth Engineering Center was awarded to the Republic of Korea for its major advance toward Sustainable Waste Management in the last two decades.
The 2014 Award was presented to representatives of Republic of Korea (ROK) at the 2014 WTERT meeting at Columbia University in New York City and also at the 8th ICIPEC international conference hosted by Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.
The ROK received this award for implementing, in the period of 1990-2010, a national plan, policies and regulations at municipal level that have advanced waste reduction, recycling, composting, and combustion with energy recovery, and reduced landfilling by two thirds across the nation.
According to an analysis of global waste management data by the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University, South Korea is at a higher level on the way to sustainable waste management than the U.S.
ROK has attained this level at a GDP per capita that, on a power parity basis, is 63% of the U.S. GDP.
The WTERT Awards were instituted in 2004 to recognise outstanding contributions in advancing sustainable waste management worldwide. Past WTERT Awards were received by: