Seongdong-gu Delivers 'Safety Quarantine Boxes' to Middle-Aged Single-Person Households

[Seoul District News] Support for 1,000 Elderly Living Alone and Middle-aged Single-person Households with Customized Quarantine, Hygiene Supplies, and Food... Yongsan-gu Provides Up to 300,000 KRW per Household for Home Food Waste Reduction Device Purchase... 9 out of 10 Mapo Residents Say "I Want to Live in Mapo Even After 10 Years"

The Safe Quarantine Box contains quarantine supplies, groceries, and messages of encouragement for returning to normal life.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jung Won-oh) will provide the ‘Seongdong-style Safe Quarantine Box’ to middle-aged single-person households this month.

The ‘Seongdong-style Safe Quarantine Box,’ consisting of quarantine and hygiene supplies such as masks and hand soap, was prepared to protect the health of vulnerable groups from infectious diseases and support safe outdoor activities amid the ongoing spread of COVID-19.

Taking into account the difficulties faced by recipients in going outdoors due to strengthened social distancing and cold weather, the box also includes ample food items such as meal kits that can be prepared instantly.

The district selected 1,000 households in need of priority support, including elderly living alone and middle-aged single-person households, and delivers the quarantine boxes with encouraging messages wishing for daily recovery and health via non-face-to-face methods such as courier service.

Last year, the district gained great response by distributing bean sprout growing kits to about 2,000 households nationwide for psychological quarantine of elderly living alone. In March, it also provided over 1,000 single-person garden kits, offering psychological stability and life vitality through safe food harvests.

This month, the district provided a ‘Safe 4-piece Set’ composed of highly satisfactory items such as home CCTV and portable emergency bells to 200 single-person households, and plans to actively provide administrative services that meet residents’ demands and offer practical help.

Residents who received the items showed high satisfaction. An 82-year-old resident Lee OO from Wangsimni 2-dong said, “I felt lonely and isolated staying alone at home all day, so I am very happy to receive an unexpected gift,” and tearfully expressed gratitude, saying, “I am thankful to spend a warm year-end.”

Park OO (47), living in Geumho-dong, said, “I recently had a traffic accident and had difficulty moving, so life was overwhelming, but the district’s support with necessary items made me feel reassured, like receiving a New Year’s gift.”

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “I hope this quarantine supplies support will help residents going through difficult times even a little,” and added, “We will carefully address residents’ difficulties with various support services reflecting reality to ensure no inconvenience.”

◆Seongdong-gu Personnel Changes ▲Director of Administrative Management Ko Young-hee (current Auditor) ▲Director of Planning and Finance Lee Hyun-sik (current Head of Regional Economy Division) ▲Director of Council Secretariat Kang Hyung-gu (current Head of Safety Management Division) ▲Director of Welfare Lee Yoon-young (current Director of Smart Inclusive City Bureau) ▲Director of Smart Inclusive City Kim Jun-gon (current Director of Administrative Management Bureau) ▲Acting Auditor Jeong Hye-sook (current Head of Safety Management and Safety General Team) ▲Head of General Affairs Choi Young-jun (current Head of Traffic Guidance Division) ▲Head of Regional Economy Kim Kyung-sun (current Head of Sustainable Development Division) ▲Head of Taxation 1 Kim Jae-kyung (current Head of Clean Environment Division) ▲Head of Basic Welfare Kim Kyu-sik (current Head of Taxation 1 Division) ▲Acting Head of Women and Family Kim Eun-kyung (current General Affairs Administrative Team Leader) ▲Acting Head of Children and Youth Lee Beom-jin (current General Affairs Facility Management Team Leader) ▲Head of Cleaning Administration Jeong Heon-wook (current Head of Health and Hygiene Division) ▲Head of Safety Management Oh Yong-kyung (current Head of General Affairs Division) ▲Acting Head of Traffic Guidance Park Yong-min (current Administrative Management Bureau) ▲Head of Policy Promotion Cha Young-soo (current Yongdap-dong Mayor) ▲Acting Head of Sustainable Development Bae Eun-hwa (current Elderly and Disabled Welfare Division Elderly Welfare Team Leader) ▲Acting Head of Clean Environment Hong Jong-chul (current Cleaning Administration Cleaning Work Team Leader) ▲Head of Health and Hygiene Lee Tae-ho (current Head of Basic Welfare Division) ▲Mayor of Wangsimni 2-dong Kim Dong-won (current Head of Cleaning Administration) ▲Mayor of Geumho 1-ga Jeong Mi-young (current Head of Children and Youth Division) ▲Mayor of Yongdap-dong Im Kyung-nam (current Head of Women and Family Division)

Yongsan-gu (Mayor Seong Jang-hyun) will support the purchase cost of home food waste reduction devices. It is the first among Seoul’s autonomous districts.

The district established the ‘Ordinance on Support for Installation and Operation of Food Waste Reduction Devices in Yongsan-gu, Seoul’ to provide a legal basis for support. The ordinance was promulgated on December 31, 2021, and took effect from January 1, 2022.

Food waste reduction devices (hereafter ‘reduction devices’) refer to home appliances that reduce food waste generated at home by up to 80% through fermentation, drying, or similar methods.

Yongsan-gu’s daily food waste output is 48 tons (as of 2021), processed by ▲discharging food waste liquid (55%) ▲recycling as feed or compost (40%) ▲landfilling contaminants (5%).

The 2022 project budget is 30 million KRW. From January 1 until the budget is exhausted, local residents purchasing reduction devices will be supported up to 300,000 KRW per household. (Single-person households and apartment households are excluded from support.)

A district official said, “Since 2015, we have supported installation of large reduction devices in apartments,” adding, “This project is expected to reduce food waste generated in single-family houses and other households.”

Supported reduction devices include certified products with K-Mark, environmental labels, etc., using drying, fermentation, or fermentation-drying methods. Devices using grinding methods that discharge directly into sewage are excluded.

Applications must be submitted within one month after new installation of the reduction device. Applicants visit their local community service center and submit application forms, purchase receipts, quality certificates, installation photos, etc. The district’s Resource Circulation Division reviews the documents and supports 50% of the purchase price per household via the applicant’s bank account.

Yongsan-gu Mayor Seong Jang-hyun said, “The saturation problem of metropolitan landfill sites continues to arise,” and added, “Improving food culture and reducing waste by ourselves will be one of the fundamental solutions.”

Nine out of ten Mapo residents (93.7%) expressed a desire to continue living in Mapo-gu 10 years from now, revealing very high residential satisfaction.

Mapo-gu (Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun) announced the results of the ‘2021 Mapo-gu Social Survey,’ which investigated various interests, lifestyles, and changes in consciousness related to residents’ quality of life.

According to the ‘2021 Mapo-gu Social Survey’ report, 93.7% of respondents answered at least ‘average’ when asked if they intended to live in Mapo 10 years later, and ‘satisfaction with living environment’ rose sharply in all areas compared to the 2019 survey results.

Detailed satisfaction rates by category were ▲housing conditions (74.6%) ▲cultural and leisure facilities (72.2%) ▲healthcare services (66.6%) ▲environmental conditions (60.6%) ▲personal living standards (57.6%), in that order.

Among these, ‘cultural and leisure facilities’ and ‘environmental conditions’ showed the largest increases (each by 18.2 percentage points) compared to the 2019 survey, followed by ‘personal living standards’ up 16.9 percentage points, ‘housing conditions’ up 15.5 percentage points, and ‘healthcare services’ up 11.2 percentage points.

Additionally, Mapo residents identified the ‘welfare sector’ (24%) as the area they were most satisfied with among district projects. The ‘cultural sector’ (22.2%) and ‘education sector’ (20.2%) followed, with the ‘education sector’ showing a meaningful increase of 14.1 percentage points compared to 2017 results.

Furthermore, residents prioritized ‘creating safe spaces nearby where children can play’ (31.1%) as the most urgent childcare policy for school-age children. They also ranked ‘local infectious disease management’ (44.1%) as the top role of public health centers, reflecting increased demand for infectious disease control due to COVID-19.

Since 2006, Mapo-gu has conducted the ‘Mapo-gu Social Survey’?the first among Seoul’s 25 autonomous districts?to use as basic data for establishing district policies aimed at improving residents’ quality of life. Starting with a pilot survey in 2006, it was conducted annually until 2011, then switched to a biennial schedule, marking its 10th iteration this year.

This survey was conducted through direct face-to-face interviews over 20 days from October 1 with 4,493 household members aged 15 or older from 2,000 households residing in Mapo-gu. The survey covered 10 broad areas including housing and living, education, transportation, economy, and welfare to obtain comprehensive statistical data on residents’ lives.

The ‘2021 Mapo-gu Social Survey Report’ is available as an e-book in the statistics section of the Mapo-gu website.

Yoo Dong-gyun, Mayor of Mapo-gu, said, “Regional statistics are important objective and reliable data to understand residents’ lifestyles and changes in consciousness and to evaluate quality of life,” adding, “Based on the results of this social survey reflecting diverse resident demands, we will promote customized policies tailored to Mapo-gu’s characteristics and circumstances.”

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