Gwangju City Implements Comprehensive Measures to Reduce Food Waste

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 5th that it is accelerating the implementation of comprehensive measures to reduce food waste, which increases during the summer season.

Last year, due to the deterioration of the digestion tank function at public treatment facilities and fires at private treatment facilities during the summer, Gwangju prepared a comprehensive plan in October for the stable treatment of food waste and has been actively implementing it since this year.

First, to strengthen the public facility treatment base, short-term facility improvements will be promoted targeting the second food resource recovery facility (300t/day), which has a large facility capacity.

In April, the facility was made more efficient by reducing the treatment process and adding equipment to transport foreign substances discharged during the feed production process, enabling more flexible responses in case of breakdowns.

Additionally, to improve the efficiency of the digestion tank that had problems last year, a solid-liquid separator will be installed, and a technical diagnosis of the entire facility will also be conducted.

Along with this, in preparation for the highest nationwide generation volume and lack of treatment facilities, expansion of public treatment facilities is being considered from a long-term perspective.

The reduction project, which fundamentally reduces the amount of food waste generated, will also be expanded.

Gwangju views the best solution for treating food waste as reducing the generation volume itself, and continues to promote the installation project of 225 ‘RFID-based food waste volume meters’ that charge fees based on the amount of waste discharged per household in apartment complexes.

The reduction devices that treat food waste at the source were first installed last month at Baekjo Apartment in Dong-gu, and a total of 13 units will be pilot-installed and then expanded.

Efforts will also be actively made to induce reduction at large-scale waste generators such as restaurants and cafeterias.

For these businesses, a reduction target management system will be introduced, shopping bags will be produced and distributed to allow customers to take leftover food home from restaurants, and small and multi-compartment dish models will be developed to foster a food culture of taking only as much as one can eat.

The ‘Visiting Food Waste Reduction Education’ program, which has been conducted for elementary school students since 2017, will be expanded to middle and high school students, and education on the necessity and methods of reduction will be provided to restaurant and cafeteria personnel.

Along with this, campaigns and promotions to spread a culture of voluntary practice among citizens will be continuously carried out.

Through promotional materials, Gwangju will urge ▲households to purchase small-packaged ingredients, cook only as much as they will eat, remove as much moisture as possible before disposal, and cut large-volume vegetables and watermelons into small pieces before disposal ▲restaurants to use small and multi-compartment dishes, take leftover food home, return uneaten food in advance, and order only as much as will be eaten, encouraging daily reduction practices.

Park Jae-woo, head of the city's Resource Circulation Division, said, “We are continuously implementing various projects to reduce food waste,” and added, “The best way to reduce food waste is to reduce its generation itself. We hope citizens actively participate in reducing food waste in daily life by preparing and ordering only as much as they will eat.”

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