Work Uniforms Stained at 500 Won per Piece... Public Laundry Facility Breaks Through 'Research Special Zone' Regulations

Worker Laundry 'Dongbaek Ilteo Cleaning' Opens in Mieumsandan, Gangseo-gu, Busan
Handles up to 2,400 Work Uniforms Daily... Collection and Delivery Service for Small Businesses Included

Dongbaek Cleaning, located in Mieum Industrial Complex, Gangseo-gu, Busan. They wash one work uniform for 500 won.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The laundry fee for one work uniform is 500 won. A ‘public laundry’ that washes 2,400 work uniforms a day has emerged in an industrial complex, funded by national and city budgets. This was achieved through bold regulatory reform efforts despite the fact that laundry businesses are not allowed in the industrial complex.

Busan City (Acting Mayor Byun Seong-wan) will hold the opening ceremony of ‘Dongbaek Ilteo Cleaning,’ a shared laundry for workers’ uniforms, at 3 p.m. on the 27th at the Shipbuilding and Marine Equipment Industrial Hall in Mieumsandan Industrial Complex, together with the Busan Shipbuilding and Marine Equipment Industrial Cooperative (Chairman Choi Geum-sik).

Workers’ uniforms are often heavily soiled with oil stains and pose concerns about bacterial infection, causing many general laundries to avoid them. Also, families cannot safely wash them in home washing machines, so the installation of a shared laundry for work uniforms was a project desired by industrial complex workers seeking welfare improvement.

Dongbaek Ilteo Cleaning is a project selected in the occupational accident prevention facility sector of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency under the Ministry of Employment and Labor, through a government joint contest for industrial complex environmental improvement, in collaboration with Busan City, the Busan Shipbuilding and Marine Equipment Industrial Cooperative, and the Gangseo District Community Self-Support Center (YWCA).

The total project cost is 500 million won, with 250 million won from the national government, 150 million won from Busan City, and 100 million won from the Shipbuilding and Marine Equipment Industrial Cooperative. The Gangseo District Community Self-Support Center is in charge of operations, creating 11 new jobs.

Equipped with five washing machines and six dryers, it can wash up to 2,400 uniforms per day. The laundry fee per uniform was set at 500 won, considering facility operating expenses.

It serves about 70,000 workers mainly in the Gangseo industrial complex area. Laundry requests are accepted primarily from small and medium-sized enterprises on a company basis, and Dongbaek Ilteo Cleaning collects and delivers the laundry.

A Busan City official said, “This was born from bold regulatory innovation considering the welfare improvement of workers on industrial sites, the welfare enhancement of companies in the research and development special zone, and the synergy effect of the special zone area.”

Originally, laundry businesses were restricted in the research and development special zone, which was the location of the laundry. Thanks to the response of related agencies, laundry businesses were permitted, allowing the project to be actively pursued.

The regulatory exemption clause stating that “if the city or provincial governor requests to achieve the purpose of the special zone designation, the research and development special zone may relax regulations on construction activities and business restrictions through expert review” was actively interpreted to allow the installation of the laundry business.

Acting Busan Mayor Byun Seong-wan said, “Dongbaek Ilteo Cleaning was able to open thanks to regulatory innovation by related agencies including the Busan Research and Development Special Zone Headquarters and the joint efforts of the Shipbuilding and Marine Equipment Industrial Cooperative.”

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