Incheon Launches 'Reducing Household Waste' Initiative... Single-Use Items Banned in Public Offices Starting Next Year

'Disposable-Free Funeral Hall' Pilot Operation at Incheon Medical Center
Expansion of Food Waste Reduction Devices and IoT-Based Garbage Collection

In front of the city hall plaza, Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun is announcing the 'Citizen Joint Action for a Major Shift in Resource Circulation Policy,' focusing on the termination of the use of the metropolitan landfill site by 2025. 2020.10.15 [Photo by Incheon City]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Starting next year, the use of disposable products will be banned in public offices in the Incheon area. Additionally, to reduce household waste, the distribution of food waste reduction devices will be increased, and the waste collection method will be improved by processing with Internet of Things (IoT)-based collection containers (sealed containers).

Incheon City announced on the 3rd that it will implement various projects based on these measures to fundamentally reduce waste and establish an eco-friendly lifestyle culture in daily life ahead of the planned closure of the metropolitan landfill site in 2025.

First, to reduce the use of disposable products, starting next year, the use of disposable products will be banned and the use of eco-friendly items promoted in all public offices, with plans to expand this to the private sector from 2022.

Bringing in disposable delivery containers and other disposable items into public offices will be prohibited, and measures such as using reusable cups during meetings and events, mandating the use of recycled paper and recycled toner, restricting the purchase of disposable products for daily expenses, removing office trash bins, and installing separate collection bins in hallways will be implemented.

From February next year, a "Zero Disposable Product Eco-friendly Funeral Hall" will be introduced and piloted at the Incheon Medical Center funeral hall. The city plans to promote the use of reusable tableware and improve the food hospitality culture at funeral halls to establish a funeral culture without disposable products.

To this end, this month, Incheon Medical Center, four university hospitals, and the Incheon Environmental Movement Federation will sign cooperation agreements, and discussions with private funeral halls will continue.

The city will also transition the existing food waste collection and processing system to an eco-friendly and efficient method.

By increasing the distribution of food waste reduction devices for households, Incheon plans to reduce the daily food waste of 687 tons recorded last year to 655 tons per day by 2025. This will start with communal and single-family homes in Namdong-gu, Bupyeong-gu, and Gyeyang-gu this year and gradually expand.

Along with this, by 2025, all apartments in the city will be equipped with wireless identification (RFID) weighing devices so that households will only pay fees corresponding to the amount of food waste they dispose of.

The household waste collection system will also be improved.

The city will move away from the current method of collecting volume-based waste bags daily and instead collect waste when the IoT-based collection containers are 80% full, changing the payment method from volume-based bags to electronic payments such as credit cards.

To this end, next year, appropriate locations such as apartments or general houses will be selected to install and pilot operate IoT sealed containers (5 tons). If successful, installation will be expanded to commercial areas and tourist spots from 2022.

One container can handle about five days' worth of waste from 700 households (2.5 people per household) in densely populated residential areas, and since electronic payment methods will eliminate the need to produce waste bags, it is expected to be highly effective in reducing waste and protecting the environment.

An Incheon city official urged, "To ensure the success of the resource circulation policy, we ask citizens to take an active interest and participate, from reducing disposable product use in daily life to improved collection and processing systems for waste reduction."

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