RE-USING BY-PRODUCTS AS COMPOST

[Anchor Lead]

About 14 percent of wildfires in Korea are caused by the burning of by-products in rice fields. The government has enacted a new law to re-use by-products as compost.

[Pkg]

A mountain in Gyeryongsan National Park is engulfed in flames. Some 200 local residents were evacuated because of the fire, which apparently started in a nearby rice paddy.

[Soundbite] CHANG SOO-CHAN(VILLAGE CHIEF) : "We confirmed that the blaze started at a rice paddy. Someone set a fire, which was apparently spread by the wind."

According to the Korea Forest Service, incineration at rice paddies causes 14 percent of wildfires in the nation. Authorities have enacted a new regulation to re-use by-products produced at farms nationwide as compost. Starting this year, the Rural Development Administration began to provide 1200 electric grinders free of charge to grind by-products into compost.

[Soundbite] LEE SANG-YEOL(LOCAL RESIDENT) : "I used to burn it all. I had no idea it could be used as fertilizer. But now I have a grinder and can produce it into compost."

Burning weeds in rice paddies destroys 89 percent of useful insects and only 11 percent of harmful ones. In other words, there is more harm than good.

[Soundbite] KIM KYUNG-KYU(RURAL DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION) : "The risk of wildfires is very high. Secondly, it's harmful for crops. It kills too many useful insects."

The Rural Development Administration stresses that grinding by-products into compost will help not only prevent wildfires but reduce air pollution as well, as incineration at rice fields is a major culprit of microdust in rural areas.