Seongdong-gu Environmental Guardians Seniors Rise, Making Our Neighborhood Cleaner...

Seongdong-gu Operates '2020 Neighborhood Environment Guardians,' Cleaning Vulnerable Areas like Alleyways and Side Streets to Resolve Frequent Complaints... Composed of 53 Seniors Aged 61-69, Contributing to Senior Job Creation

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jung Won-oh) operates the ‘2020 Neighborhood Environment Keepers,’ deploying concentrated cleaning personnel in vulnerable areas such as alleyways, large shopping districts, and subway station surroundings to address complaints.

The ‘Neighborhood Environment Keepers’ are cleaning workers composed of seniors aged 61 to 69. They clean during times and in areas not covered by existing sanitation workers, filling cleaning gaps and resolving complaints in vulnerable areas to create a pleasant urban environment.

Last year, in alleyways and side streets plagued by habitual illegal dumping complaints, as well as multi-use facilities like the Wangsimni Station area, operating the Neighborhood Environment Keepers daily from 8 a.m. resulted in a significant reduction of cleaning complaints from an average of three per day to about one per day.

Additionally, the nighttime Neighborhood Environment Keepers respond to and handle animal carcass collection and disposal caused by roadkill during late hours, enabling uninterrupted cleaning of vulnerable areas.

This year, a total of 53 people are active as Neighborhood Environment Keepers. Forty-five are responsible for cleaning alleyways and side streets in each neighborhood, six clean vulnerable areas such as large shopping districts and subway station surroundings, and two handle nighttime animal carcass collection duties.

A district official stated, “The 53 alley cleaning captains have greatly contributed to neighborhood environment improvement by cleaning small alleyways that sanitation workers, public laborers, and disabled personnel could not reach. Additionally, this project provides jobs for seniors in need of employment, making it a win-win initiative.”

Mr. Lee ○○ (67), active as a Neighborhood Environment Keeper, said, “I am grateful and happy to have the opportunity to work even after retirement at our age. Seeing the neighborhood become clean through my efforts and receiving thanks from residents makes me feel that I am still useful, which lifts my spirits.”

‘Neighborhood Environment Keeper’ cleaning in front of Wangsimni Station Exit 6

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “Cleaning issues are among the stresses residents face in daily life, but by using senior personnel to clean vulnerable areas, we have resolved complaints and created jobs for seniors, achieving two goals at once. We will continue to deploy Neighborhood Environment Keepers to key points that cause inconvenience to residents to make Seongdong a pleasant and livable place.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.