Acquittal in Company F’s Violation of the Waste Control Act Case
2023.06.15.
Yulchon successfully defended the CEO and the corporation of Company F against an alleged criminal violation of the Waste Control Act concerning the alleged failure to register waste transfer records in Uijeongbu City. City. Yulchon successfully secured an acquittal in both the first-instance court and the appellate court.
Company F processed food waste by crushing, sorting, dehydrating and drying it to produce a dehydrated material (hereinafter referred to as "Dehydrated Material"), which was then supplied to other businesses for use as compost ingredients or as feed for Hermetia illucens (black soldier fly larvae, which can in turn be used as animal feed). The prosecution viewed the Dehydrated Material as intermediate processed food waste and thus indicted Company F and its CEO for failing to register the company’s supply in the electronic waste tracking system.
Yulchon argued that, because (1) after undergoing processing, the Dehydrated Material was transformed from waste material into a finished product or a raw material for the production of finished products, and (2) the Dehydrated Material was used as compost material or as feed for Hermetia illucens, which demonstrated its objective market value as a finished product, the defendants were not in violation of the Waste Management Act, which presupposed that the Dehydrated Material was waste material. The court fully accepted Yulchon's argument and ruled in favor of the defendants, rendering a not-guilty verdict.
This case is significant in that the court recognized processed food waste as a non-waste product that can be sold, providing a valuable precedent for similar cases. It also serves to prevent recycling companies from being indiscriminately penalized for handling materials that have already lost their status as a waste material.
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