What happens if I dispose of waste without a permit under the Waste Management Act?

If waste is disposed of without a permit under the Waste Management Act, it may be subject to criminal punishment, and severe punishment may be applied depending on the disposal method.

In your case, it appears that the issue is that waste generated at the business site was disposed of without separate permission or entrusted to outside parties, which may correspond to the case of disposing of business site waste without legal procedures.

In such cases, under Article 63 of the Waste Management Act, you may face up to 7 years of imprisonment or a fine of up to 70 million won, and depending on the case, imprisonment and fines may be imposed concurrently.

In addition, separately from criminal punishment, administrative dispositions such as business suspension or revocation of permits may be carried out together.

Therefore, in such situations, the response needs to be organized based on the following criteria.

(1) Clarification of type of violation

Since the applicable laws and level of punishment may differ depending on whether it is illegal dumping or unauthorized disposal, you must first distinguish what type of act the current act corresponds to.

(2) Organize the circumstances of disposal and scope of responsibility

You must organize the actual scope of responsibility based on the process from waste generation to disposal, contracts with external companies, and internal decision-making structures.

(3) Secure relevant materials

You must secure objective materials such as waste delivery slips, transport records, and contracts to explain how the actual disposal process took place.

(4) Parallel response to administrative disposition and criminal procedures

Since violations of the Waste Management Act often involve administrative disposition simultaneously with criminal procedures, it is necessary to prepare responses suitable for each procedure together.

In conclusion, it is important to accurately organize the type of violation and scope of responsibility, systematically prepare relevant materials, and then respond in a more organized direction to subsequent criminal and administrative procedures.