Seoul City and Shinseong Tongsang Donate Clothing Made from Transparent PET Bottles to Recycling Field Workers

Donation Ceremony of Recycled Transparent PET Bottle Clothing at the Resource Circulation Center on the 24th
1,000 Garments Donated to Employees of 25 Companies Including Autonomous District Recycling Sorting Facilities and SR Centers

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Metropolitan Government and Shinseong Tongsang announced on the 24th that they donated clothing made from recycled fibers using transparent PET bottles to on-site workers involved in recycling in Seoul. The donation ceremony was held at a recycling sorting facility in Gangnam-gu, attended by Yoon Jae-sam, head of the Resource Recovery Facility Promotion Team of Seoul City, and Yang Myung-ah, executive director of Shinseong Tongsang.

This donation ceremony was planned as part of the establishment of a resource circulation system and social contribution activities following the business agreement between Seoul City and Shinseong Tongsang in August. The donated clothing, worth approximately 40 million KRW, will be distributed to 1,000 workers at 25 companies located in recycling sorting facilities and the Seoul Urban Metal Recovery (SR) Center.

The clothing was produced using recycled fibers made from transparent PET bottles collected by the autonomous districts under a business agreement signed in January last year between Seoul City, Geumcheon, Yeongdeungpo, Gangnam-gu, and Hyosung TNC. Shinseong Tongsang donated the clothing to on-site workers at recycling sorting facilities, and Seoul City adjusted the donation quantities per company through demand surveys to ensure the clothing could be received on the day of the ceremony.

Since December 25 last year, Seoul City has been promoting the establishment of a separate collection day system for vinyl and transparent PET bottles in single-family housing areas, conducting business agreements with private companies to activate the circular economy and build a virtuous cycle. This aims to establish a public-private cooperation system and present exemplary cases so that transparent PET bottles can become high value-added products and essential resources for the circular economy, thereby demonstrating the necessity of separate collection and resource circulation to citizens and related industries.

Additionally, to expand the high value-added recycling rate of transparent PET bottles, Seoul City continuously promotes the separate collection day system in cooperation with autonomous districts. Jongno, Gangbuk, Gwanak, Songpa, and Gwangjin districts operate exchange programs where residents can exchange a certain amount of collected transparent PET bottles for volume-based waste bags. Jongno and Gwanak districts also produce and distribute dedicated recycling bags. Other autonomous districts encourage proper separate collection through various promotional activities such as operating unmanned collection machines.

Meanwhile, Seoul City is conducting a pilot operation of collection postponement targeting some administrative neighborhoods or entire autonomous districts in 12 districts. If residents fail to comply with designated collection days or mix items for collection, promotional materials explaining the system are attached to the items, and collection is made on the next scheduled day. Based on the pilot operation results, the city plans to expand this system to all autonomous districts starting next year.

Yoon Jae-sam, head of the Resource Recovery Facility Promotion Team, stated, “Achieving recycling of waste resources and a circular economy requires cooperation among local governments, private companies, and residents,” adding, “Seoul City will continue to build cooperative systems to ensure that recyclable resources are recycled to the maximum extent possible.”

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