Spread of Packaging-Free Consumption Culture... Seoul City to Operate Citizen Experience Space 'ZeroSup' Until November

Experience Bulk Product Portioning and Refilling of Everyday Items like Detergents and Shampoos, and Actual Zero Waste Sales Products

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 3rd, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will operate a space called ‘Zero Sup’ on the first floor of the Seoul Upcycling Plaza’s Upcycling House to promote a zero-waste consumption culture that minimizes packaging waste discharge and encourages reuse through related experiences.

The name ‘Zero Sup’ combines the words Zero Waste and SUP (Seoul Upcycling Plaza), symbolizing that various zero-waste experiences (trees) form a zero-waste culture (forest). It is also a play on words indicating that it is operated at the Seoul Upcycling Plaza (SUP).

At Zero Sup, visitors can directly practice minimizing packaging and reuse by experiencing products that are sold in small portions, refills, or at private zero-waste stores. The experience is free of charge. Visitors can divide large-volume products frequently used in daily life, such as detergents and shampoos, into containers. They can also check the effectiveness of zero-waste products such as solid toothpaste, shampoo, and rinse sold at private stores.

Zero Sup consists of ▲small portion/refill experience space ▲resource circulation space ▲zero-waste product and store promotion space. In the small portion/refill experience space, visitors can try dividing or refilling various large-volume products such as detergents and food items. They can use containers they bring themselves or special containers provided in the experience space to divide the products.

The resource circulation space collects recyclable resources brought by citizens and supports the production of upcycled products. Upcycled products will be made using recyclable resources such as soap dishes made from collected single-use plastics. These products will also be provided as prizes through visitor lotteries. Additionally, recyclable resources collected from citizens will be used to produce upcycled products in cooperation with organizations such as ‘Hansalim’ and ‘Seoul Environmental Federation.’

The zero-waste product and store promotion space is a place where visitors can directly experience products actually sold at private zero-waste stores. Visitors can check the performance of zero-waste products such as solid toothpaste, solid shampoo and rinse, and natural loofahs. A ‘pop-up store’ will also be set up for citizens who wish to purchase products after the experience.

In addition to operating Zero Sup, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to continue policy support to spread a packaging-free consumption culture by promoting a zero-waste store certification system and creating zero-waste corners in large retail stores within this year. Based on this, from next year, support will be expanded so that private zero-waste stores can be established throughout daily life.

Jung Mi-seon, head of the Resource Circulation Division of Seoul City, said, “To fundamentally reduce the rapidly increasing packaging waste generation, establishing a packaging-free consumption culture is most important. Recently, interest in zero-waste consumption culture is increasing mainly among the MZ generation,” and added, “Seoul City will continue to make efforts so that citizens can experience packaging-free consumption culture in their daily lives and practice and spread it in real life.”

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