Three sanitation workers who collected 75 million won (approximately 56,000 USD) over four years in exchange for disposing of food waste without the required payment stickers have been handed over to the prosecution.
On the 8th, Seoul’s Seongdong Police Station announced that they have sent three sanitation workers and 22 business owners, accused of offering bribes, to the prosecution on charges of breach of duty and bribery.
From April 2019 to August last year, the sanitation workers allegedly colluded with merchants and business owners around Seongdong District in Seoul to collect waste without attaching stickers or using stickers for smaller amounts than actually required, accepting payments to do so. It was confirmed that the workers received a total of 75.03 million won in cash or by bank transfer over a period of more than four years, with monthly amounts ranging from 20,000 to 800,000 won.
Typically, businesses like restaurants purchase payment stickers and attach them to food waste bins for disposal. If sanitation workers embezzle disposal fees as in this case, the local district office could suffer from decreased revenue from sticker sales, indirectly affecting residents.
The police also plan to investigate whether there have been previous cases of irregular waste disposal or bribery. A police representative stated, “There is a need to review and improve work processes as the system’s weaknesses have been exposed, allowing illegal activities in food waste collection and disposal to go unnoticed.”