36,580 Old Election Banners from June 1 Local Elections Reborn as Bags and Wallets

Si-Jachigu-Seoul SaeHwalYong Plaza Promotes Recycling Business... Collects Upcycled Materials from 11 Districts
Materials Processed through Washing and Cutting Provided to Upcycling Companies → Design Products like Bags, Wallets, and Pouches Produced

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The discarded banners displayed across Seoul during the June 1 local elections are being reborn as various everyday design products such as bags, wallets, and pouches.

On the 7th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will promote a recycling project in collaboration with autonomous districts and the Seoul Sae Hwal-yong Plaza to utilize the discarded banners from the June 1 local elections as materials for design products. The autonomous districts collect the discarded banners and transport them to the Seoul Sae Hwal-yong Plaza, where they undergo a 'materialization' process to make the banners usable as materials, then provide them to upcycling companies that wish to use them. These upcycling companies manufacture and sell bags, wallets, pouches, and more from the discarded banners. The goal is to practice sustainable resource circulation and environmental protection by giving new value to discarded resources.

About 4,000 discarded banners collected from 11 autonomous districts that expressed their willingness to participate through a prior demand survey conducted by the city will be used in this project. The banners are made of plastic synthetic fibers, and incinerating them releases large amounts of greenhouse gases, carcinogens, and other harmful substances. Therefore, the need for sustainable recycling methods for discarded banners to protect the environment and achieve carbon neutrality has been continuously raised.

Accordingly, on May 24 and 26, the city held advisory meetings with upcycling companies producing and selling recycled banner products, design organizations, autonomous districts, and Green Power Station. Based on the meeting results, the city decided to establish a system for materialization and recycling to utilize discarded banners as high value-added materials.

The city plans to analyze the outcomes of this project and establish a continuous collection and materialization system through the 'Seoul Sae Hwal-yong Plaza' so that discarded banners generated not only from public elections but also those collected regularly can be recycled as design product materials. Additionally, the city will simultaneously promote recycling methods for public use, such as recycling into collection bags for recyclables and sandbags for natural disasters. The material used in the banners is over three times more durable than Chinese-made PP bags, resistant to contamination leakage, and becomes heavier when wet, making it excellent for use as collection bags or sandbags.

Meanwhile, Seoul is also promoting a project to create an eco-friendly outdoor space at Namsan Library by utilizing discarded banners as building materials. This involves producing eco-friendly fiber panels that replace wood using discarded banners generated in Geumcheon District, and making benches and shelves. In this regard, on May 19, the city signed a business agreement with the Korea Environment Corporation, Lotte Home Shopping, and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to practice resource circulation and social value management.

Yoo Yeon-sik, head of the Seoul Climate and Environment Headquarters, said, “We will explore various ways to transform discarded resources generated in Seoul into new resources, spread these cases to realize carbon neutrality in daily life, and discuss and cooperate with related organizations on ways to utilize resources more valuably in the era of climate crisis.”

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