'Recycling Old Mobile Phones in Drawers'... Gyeonggi-do to Establish Resource Circulation System by February Next Year

Kim Dong-yeon, Governor of Gyeonggi Province (second from the left), is taking a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement with Samsung Electronics, CJ Logistics, and e-Sunhwan Governance at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office on the 13th.

Gyeonggi Province will introduce a 'resource circulation program' as early as February next year, which collects unused mobile phones, shreds and separates them for recycling, and provides donors with donation receipts or carbon neutrality points.

On the 13th, Gyeonggi Province announced that it signed a 'Customer Participation Mobile Phone Resource Circulation Logistics Agreement' at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., CJ Logistics Corporation Korea Division, and e-Sunhwan Governance.

This agreement was planned for efficient mobile phone resource recycling and environmental protection through cooperation between companies and local governments. Each participating organization will actively promote resource circulation by leveraging their expertise and capabilities.

Regarding the project implementation process, Samsung Electronics will receive requests for collecting discarded mobile phones from customers through its website, and CJ Logistics will handle the collection through its courier logistics. The collected phones will be delivered to the Metropolitan Resource Circulation Center operated by e-Sunhwan Governance, a waste electronic product recycling company, where they will be shredded and separated for recycling by component. The phones will be delivered in reusable safety pouches, and the management and cleaning of these reusable pouches will be handled by the Yongin Regional Self-Sufficiency Center.

Participants who donate mobile phones will receive benefits such as donation receipts issuance and carbon neutrality points from e-Sunhwan Governance.

The participating organizations agreed to establish the system within this year and to officially launch the project around February next year.

This agreement was promoted as part of the 'Impact Solution Table' project led by the Gyeonggi Social Economy Center. The Impact Solution Table is a program where large corporations, public institutions, and social economy organizations deliberate and design projects to solve social problems and then implement them.

Gyeonggi Province expects not only to solve environmental issues through waste resource recycling but also to create jobs through the processes of mobile phone collection and recycling.

At the signing ceremony, Gyeonggi Governor Kim Dong-yeon said, "Mobile phone collection has been conducted by many, including the Ministry of Environment, since 2010, but the problem was that the results were very poor," and added, "If we join hands and demonstrate our capabilities in areas where we can collaborate, we can create a synergy effect that builds trust among general consumers and citizens."

He continued, "Although the central government has shown a rather lagging attitude toward climate change response, Gyeonggi Province decided not to use disposable cups in the government building starting January this year, and from today, we will also stop using disposable containers for meal deliveries," adding, "This agreement is meaningful in terms of the important role local governments play in the direction South Korea is heading. I ask everyone to join forces so that this can become a settled awareness and culture in our society."

Park Hak-gyu, Head of Management Support at Samsung Electronics, promised, "The discarded mobile phone collection program started as a wish of Samsung Electronics employees, and if Gyeonggi Province and civic groups work hard to ensure there are no concerns about personal information leakage, we will do our best to actively promote it so that collections can greatly increase."

Shin Young-soo, CEO of CJ Logistics Korea Division, said, "As a logistics company related to resource circulation, we feel a great responsibility. CJ Logistics will take the lead in collecting discarded mobile phones."

Jung Deok-gi, Chairman of e-Sunhwan Governance, emphasized, "We will recycle perfectly so that personal information is not an issue and ensure that this great initiative expands nationwide."

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Social Economy Center plan to expand cooperative projects that link large corporations, public institutions, and social economy organizations to solve social problems together, thereby enhancing the social impact and activity of social economy organizations.

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