Songpa-gu, Designated Days for Disposal of Waste Vinyl and Transparent Waste PET Bottles

Leading Resource Circulation Culture by Improving Recycling Efficiency and Quality

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) is implementing a ‘Separate Disposal Day System’ that requires residents to separately dispose of waste vinyl and clear waste PET bottles on designated days during recycling collection.

According to the district, although the domestic PET bottle recycling rate is relatively high at 80%, mixing with other plastics during disposal prevents high-quality recycling, leading to the import of 87,000 tons of waste PET annually.

Waste vinyl is often disposed of while contaminated, which causes contamination of other recyclables during the sorting process.

Recently, with the surge in recyclables due to COVID-19, disposal issues have become a social concern, making special attention to separate disposal necessary.

Accordingly, to improve recycling quality and promote resource circulation, the district is piloting the ‘Separate Disposal Day System for Waste Vinyl and Waste PET Bottles’ by improving the recycling disposal method.

For detached houses and commercial areas, the previous method of mixed disposal three times a week will change depending on the area: on Thursdays (for areas previously disposing on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday) or Fridays (for areas previously disposing on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), only waste vinyl and clear PET bottles for beverages and water should be disposed of. Colored PET bottles, paper, Styrofoam, and other recyclables should be disposed of on designated days for each neighborhood, excluding Thursdays and Fridays.

In apartment complexes, other recyclables can be disposed of as before, but clear PET bottles must be disposed of separately on the complex’s designated disposal day using dedicated collection bins.

The district is currently piloting the Separate Disposal Day System and is promoting it through local government meetings, banners, newsletters, and social media to ensure residents can participate voluntarily without confusion. The system will be fully implemented in apartment complex areas starting July, and in detached house and commercial areas from 2021.

Recently, to facilitate early adoption of the Separate Disposal Day System, the district distributed dedicated disposal bags (30ℓ) for clear PET bottles to detached house areas through each neighborhood community center.

At the same time, the district urged proper disposal of waste vinyl and waste PET bottles. Waste vinyl should be disposed of in transparent or semi-transparent bags after removing foreign substances.

If foreign substances cannot be removed, disposal in designated volume-based waste bags is allowed.

Also, clear PET bottles should be washed, labels removed, crushed, caps closed, and disposed of in dedicated bags.

Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa-gu, stated, “The Separate Disposal Day System is expected to contribute to resource circulation by improving the efficiency of sorting and processing recyclables and enhancing recycling quality. Songpa will take the lead to ensure valuable resources are properly recycled and a healthy resource circulation culture is established.”

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