Seoul City Strengthens On-Site Response for Separate Collection Day System of Detached Houses with Autonomous Districts

15 Districts to Attach Notice Stickers and Collect on Next Scheduled Day if Designated Day Not Followed

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 19th that to establish the designated day system for separate collection of vinyl and transparent PET bottles in single-family residential areas, it will attach informational stickers to items disposed of on days other than the designated ones and collect them on the next scheduled collection day. This will be implemented sequentially in 15 autonomous districts in the second half of the year.

Since December 25 last year, the city has been enforcing a separate collection day system where vinyl and transparent PET bottles must be disposed of only on designated days in single-family houses, villas, and small-scale commercial buildings. Until December 24 this year, there is a grace period during which no fines are imposed even if violations are found.

The city stated that despite continuous guidance through pilot projects since 2020, there have been difficulties in establishing the system. An inspection of 246 locations in 15 autonomous districts earlier this year found that only 41 locations complied with the designated day system or separately sorted the items.

To improve this, the city decided that in some neighborhoods of the 15 autonomous districts, only vinyl and transparent PET bottles disposed of on the designated collection days will be collected, and if other recyclables are mixed in, collection will be postponed to the next scheduled day. Additionally, some districts plan to improve disposal conditions and increase resident participation by exchanging collected transparent PET bottles for daily necessities or distributing dedicated collection bags.

Meanwhile, the city expects that the implementation of the ‘Separate Collection Day System for Vinyl and Transparent PET Bottles’ will increase the high-quality recycling rate of transparent PET bottles and reduce residue rates at public recycling sorting facilities. In particular, small-sized vinyl mixed in with other vinyl has been a major cause of residue generation in sorting facilities due to difficulties in manual sorting.

Jung Mi-seon, head of the Resource Circulation Division of Seoul City, said, “If transparent PET bottles are separately collected, they can be recycled into high-quality resources. We ask residents to adhere to separate disposal and the designated day system to protect the environment.” She added, “Seoul City will work with related organizations to establish the necessary infrastructure and ensure the system is stably established.”

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