Gwanak-gu Establishes Comprehensive Plan to Promote Recycling and Improve Separate Waste Disposal Culture

Pilot Installation and Operation of Ice Pack-Dedicated, Smart Technology-Enabled Returnable Transparent PET Bottle Collection Bins...Focusing on Improving Recycling Rates and Separation Culture

AI Smart Recycling Bin Installed at Nakseongdae-dong Community Center

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Junhee) is establishing and implementing the 2021 Comprehensive Plan for Recycling Activation to increase the recycling rate and reduce waste.

The "Recycling Activation Promotion Plan" focuses on establishing a culture of separated disposal and includes ▲ ice pack recycling ▲ installation of point-accumulating transparent PET bottle collection bins ▲ free distribution of separated collection stands ▲ paper pack (cup)-toilet paper exchange ▲ free collection of coffee grounds from coffee shops ▲ visiting separated disposal education for elementary, middle, high schools, and kindergartens.

This year, the district plans to pilot the new projects related to "ice packs" and "transparent PET bottles" in some neighborhoods before expanding them, while significantly increasing participation in existing projects.

First, the ice pack recycling project installs dedicated collection bins to reuse ice packs, whose usage surged due to COVID-19. Collected ice packs are separately washed and disinfected, then provided free of charge to places in need such as traditional markets and food manufacturers.

From the end of March, four dedicated collection bins (two each) will be installed at Boramae-dong and Jowon-dong community centers for pilot operation, with plans to expand to all neighborhoods in the second half of the year.

Also, to establish the transparent PET bottle separated disposal system, which started in December last year, ten smart transparent PET bottle collection bins will be installed and operated in the first half of the year.

The smart collection bins recognize the barcode on transparent PET bottles; when bottles are deposited, points are accumulated via a smartphone app, which can be exchanged for mobile gift certificates such as beverages and pizza, expected to receive high resident participation.

The existing free distribution project of separated collection stands was only available for houses with six or more households, but from this year, applications will be expanded to allow any building with a designated manager to apply regardless of the number of households.

The visiting separated disposal education for elementary, middle, high schools, and kindergartens, which was not conducted last year due to COVID-19, will be carried out normally this year alongside untact (non-face-to-face) education.

The education method will be participatory learning using audiovisual and teaching materials tailored to children's perspectives.

Additionally, the free coffee grounds collection project aims to increase participation from the current 90 businesses to 150, and the paper pack (cup)-toilet paper exchange project, which exchanges 1 roll of toilet paper for every 1.5 kg of paper packs (cups), will strengthen promotion to encourage more resident participation.

Furthermore, the district is encouraging resident participation through various recycling activation projects such as operating smart recycling bins, recycling textile scraps, and recycling waste metal resources, while striving to improve recycling collection and processing and reduce household waste.

Mayor Park Junhee said, "With the increase in single-person households, we will focus our efforts on improving the culture of separated disposal starting with this recycling activation plan to smoothly handle the increasing household waste and increase the recycling rate. Environmental issues must be solved through everyone's practice, so I hope residents actively participate in daily recycling and separated disposal to create a clean Gwanak."

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