Evaluation and development of Korea’s national plan for resource circulation towards a circular economy

In light of the growing attention to the need for establishing a lifecycle-oriented circular economy and to promote resource circulation to maximize the utilization of limited resources, this paper presents a case study on setting-up new national-level indicators and targets in accordance to the shift in the national waste management paradigm from waste treatment to resource circulation, which is being initiated in multiple countries around the world. Specifically, using the case of Korea, which recently implemented its new Framework Act for Resource Circulation, this study illustrates the process for setting new indicators and projecting Korea’s waste management based on the indicators developed in this study. The five main indicators suggested are the final disposal rate, actual recycling rate, waste to energy recovery rate, resource circulation rate, and resource productivity, and their precise definitions and calculation methods and the necessary revision in national statistical data collection for obtaining the required data for the indicators are discussed. For the effective delivery of the policies in the long term, the annual targets for the indicators and overall strategies for promoting resource circulation are proposed based on the predictions for future population growth and waste generation. With continuous effort from 2018 to 2027, it is expected that Korea will be able to reduce its final disposal rate from 8.7% to 3.0% and increase its actual recycling rate from 76.4% to 82.0%, waste to energy recovery rate from 6.95% to 12.66%, resource circulation rate to 14.0% to 16.4%, and resource productivity to 630 USD/ton to 1900 USD/ton.