Yoon Seok-yeol: "We Will Use AI to Collect Recyclable Materials"

26th Heart-Throbbing Pledge
Reducing Single-Use Products, Installing Grinders, etc.

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is announcing his political pledges at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 27th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, announced plans to establish a system that reduces waste generation and increases the recycling collection rate.

On the 31st, Yoon revealed the 26th 'Seok-yeol's Heart-Throbbing Promise' titled the 'Go-Go-Go (Reduce waste, Increase collection rate, Make it convenient for the people) Promise.'

He stated that he would reduce the amount of waste generated from plastics, single-use products, and packaging materials, and improve the separate collection system to increase the recycling rate. Yoon said, "Separate collection involves considerable inconvenience and recycling is not effectively carried out. Although the 'PET bottle separate collection system,' which was only applied to apartment complexes, has been expanded to multi-family and detached houses, during the collection process, transparent and opaque bottles are mixed again and collected, then re-sorted at sorting facilities, which greatly diminishes the meaning of residents' efforts to separate waste."

To address this, he pledged to establish legal and institutional foundations to promote the use of recycled materials and reduce the use of single-use products, including packaging materials.

Additionally, Yoon announced that in line with the 'Digital Platform Government' to be launched by the next administration, artificial intelligence (AI) would be utilized in the collection and recycling of recyclables. When recyclables such as bottles and cans are placed in collection bins, AI will identify and collect them accordingly. He also promised to increase the reward amount for returning recyclables by up to twice to boost the collection rate.

To simplify the disposal of food waste, he included a pledge to allow the installation of grinders in sinks for newly built houses only. Yoon explained, "The food waste collected this way can be decomposed by microorganisms in an oxygen-free environment to produce gas that can be used as city gas. This method eliminates food odors in elevators and entrances, saves the cost of purchasing food waste dryers and electricity, and is a way to reduce fine dust and greenhouse gases."

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