Waste oil sold as fuel

[Anchor]

A group that has been selling waste oil as if it were a normal product has been caught.

The amount sold over four years exceeds 10 billion won.

Using such oil as fuel not only pollutes the environment but also poses a significant risk of explosion.

Reporter Jeong Sae-bae has the details.

[Report]

A fire that broke out in a bathhouse in Busan in 2023.

During firefighting efforts, a large explosion occurred, injuring over 20 people, including firefighters and police.

Investigations revealed that the fuel oil supplied to this bathhouse was at the level of waste oil that had not undergone proper refining.

Following the incident, the government conducted inspections and recently caught multiple companies distributing such "substandard oil."

They sold waste oil as recycled fuel oil without proper filtration and refining, or even sold waste oil itself as if it were normal fuel oil.

From 2020 to 2024, they sold approximately 11.6 billion won worth of oil.

['Substandard oil' distribution company employee/Voice altered: "From tank 7, three compartments is 12,000 (liters), the rest is from tank 2, three and a half compartments, 14,000 (liters). (Are you supplying about 26,000 (liters)?) Yes."]

To avoid inspections, they created fake samples to produce test reports or falsified documents such as waste transfer forms and recycling logs.

Most of the distributed oil was found to be used as fuel in cement factories and other places.

Such "substandard oil" not only causes environmental pollution but also poses significant safety threats.

[Yoo Seong/Environmental Investigation Officer, Ministry of Environment: “Using fuel that does not meet proper standards can lead to air pollution, and its low flash point increases the risk of fire.”]

The Ministry of Environment has referred three companies and seven employees, including their CEOs, to the prosecution on charges of violating the Waste Management Act.

This is KBS News, Jeong Sae-bae.