Hong Jeong-gi, Vice Minister of Environment, Visits Eunpyeong-gu Ahead of Chuseok to Encourage 'Resource Management Helpers'

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] On the morning of the 17th, ahead of Chuseok, Hong Jeong-gi, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environment, visited the ‘Recyclable Materials Quality Improvement Project’ site in Sinsa-dong, Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, to encourage the ‘Resource Management Helpers.’

Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) has been working on improving the quality of recyclable materials by hiring 200 Resource Management Helpers since June.

With the recent increase in non-face-to-face consumption, disposable items exceeding the sorting capacity have been brought into recycling sorting centers, making it urgent to establish a stable waste disposal method.

Eunpyeong-gu shifted its focus from the existing policy, which concentrated on public collection and sorting stages, to the ‘resident disposal stage’ to promote a change in awareness.

The Recyclable Materials Quality Improvement Project aims to prevent waste accumulation and enhance the quality of recyclable materials by having residents dispose of only items that are ‘truly recyclable.’

To this end, the Resource Management Helpers go around the alleys to inform residents about the expanded schedule for separating and disposing of waste vinyl and PET bottles starting at the end of this year, separate recyclable materials such as PET bottles, paper, and cans that have been mixed together, and clean up residues.

Additionally, they operate separate collection bins in front of 16 community centers. This is linked to ‘Eunpyeong Green Moa Moa,’ Eunpyeong-gu’s representative Green New Deal project.

‘Moa Moa,’ where residents separate recyclable materials into eight categories at designated places and times, is operated by 350 resource managers at about 150 locations throughout Eunpyeong-gu.

The recyclable materials collected at ‘Moa Moa’ are not mixed with other items or contaminated, so their quality is good, eliminating the need for sorting and enabling ‘low-cost, high value-added creation.’

At the site of Eunpyeong-gu’s recycling policy, where the environment and people coexist, Vice Minister Hong Jeong-gi encouraged and urged, “Please continue to take the lead in raising recycling awareness.”

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