Goyang City Selected as Outstanding Municipality for Food Waste Management... Receives Commendation from Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment

Achieved a 2.7% Reduction in Food Waste Compared to the Previous Year

Goyang Special City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Donghwan) announced on November 19 that it was selected as an outstanding local government in the "2025 Municipal Performance Evaluation for Food Waste Management" and received a commendation from the Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment.

Exterior view of Goyang Special City Hall. Provided by Goyang Special City

This evaluation, hosted by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, was conducted for 229 municipalities nationwide. Goyang City had the honor of being the first to receive an award in the food waste sector.

To reduce and stably manage food waste, the city implemented a variety of policies, including: increasing the price of designated waste bags by 6% each year; installing RFID-based waste meters in apartment complexes and operating large-scale waste reduction machines in group cafeterias; revising ordinances to mandate RFID installation in newly built apartment complexes with more than 60 households; promoting both public and private processing and resource recovery (such as biogas production and composting); and launching citizen participation campaigns like the "Empty Plate Challenge" to reduce leftover food.

As a result, the amount of food waste generated in 2024 decreased by 2,150 tons compared to the previous year (a reduction of 2.7%, totaling 78,690 tons).

A city official stated, "Our efforts to reduce waste together with citizens have led to this award," and added, "We will continue to do our best to spread a culture of resource circulation and achieve carbon neutrality."

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