Songdo Garbage Disposal System
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
Songdo IBD continues to draw much attention. Its Green and eco-friendly technology interests many. For example this Joongang Ilbo article shares some of the city’s eco-friendly features.
The article notes among other cutting edge technologies the city’s automatic garbage gathering system.
Songdo International Business Complex has been chosen for the LEED-ND pilot project, an environmental grading system for buildings run by the U.S. Green Building Council. It is the highest environmental certification available for a building, and the entire city of 5.72 million square meters has been selected, reflecting its eco-friendly construction. Songdo is the largest single LEED-ND pilot project outside North America.
To receive the LEED-ND certificate, which no city has ever received before, Songdo International City will compete with other cities.
When graded according to the LEED system, Songdo International City hopes to rank at silver. For individual buildings in Songdo, the Northeast Asia Trade Tower, a landmark of the city, is also aiming for silver. If it succeeds in that goal, it will be the first and only building to do so in Korea.
The U-Life Complex building, which will serve as the Asian headquarters of Gale International Korea, is aiming for the highest level: platinum.
Meanwhile, Korea’s first eco friendly seawater “road” connecting the center of a city directly to the sea, is now under construction. The canal, to be built through Songdo’s 400,000-square-meter Central Park, will pump seawater into the city, a first for Korea.
The seawater will fill a 4.8-kilometer canal starting at the western water treatment plant in the business complex. Filling it up with seawater instead of fresh water minimizes the environmental disturbance due to the ultimate discharge into the Yellow Sea, while a double filtration system eliminates the need for chemical purifiers.
Automatic garbage collection will make use of underground conveyers inside pipelines, with automatic sorting, compression and dehydration – no garbage trucks required. If people follow the guidelines to dispose of their trash, the entire system can run cleanly and efficiently, contributing to a more pleasant city life.
The pipeline network will cost 390 billion won to build and will be finished by 2020, when it will be the largest of its kind in Korea.
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