Busan City Opens This Year's First 'Citizen Sharing Market'

Busan City will open this year’s first ‘Citizen Sharing Market’ from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the 23rd at the Sunken Plaza within Songsanghyeon Square.

Citizen Sharing Market.

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The Citizen Sharing Market was first launched in 2003 to prevent resource waste through the reuse of waste, promote environmental protection, and realize the value of sharing, and it has been held annually since then.

This year marks its 22nd anniversary, serving as an opportunity for citizens to directly participate in sharing recycled goods and raising awareness about resource recirculation.

At this event, citizens who have pre-registered, social enterprises, and non-profit organizations will sell recyclable daily necessities such as clothing, bags, and books. The event is hosted by ‘Eco Unniya’ and is open to everyone.

To cultivate habits of separating waste in daily life, there will also be an event exchanging used batteries for new ones.

Additionally, a children’s market will be operated where children can participate directly in sales, providing an opportunity to experience environmental protection practices and economic activities firsthand.

In particular, on this day, there will be waste separation education for children, various crafting experiences using discarded items, and environmental protection campaigns, all designed to convey the value of the environment to future generations through diverse activities.

To further expand the sharing market as part of future environmental policies, a ‘District Free Market Pilot Project’ operating small-scale sharing markets will be held in Yeongdo-gu, Nam-gu, Geumjeong-gu, and Suyeong-gu, continuing from last year.

The ‘2023 Citizen Participation Sharing Market,’ held 10 times last year, saw participation from 1,086 individual and group teams and approximately 33,400 people, with a total of 5,656 recycled items sold and reused.

From voluntary donations by participants, 9,147,000 KRW of the sales proceeds were fully supported to help 70 households of elderly living alone and grandparent-headed families achieve self-reliance.

Lee Byung-seok, Director of the Environmental Policy Office, said, “Through the Citizen Sharing Market, a place for practicing environmental protection with future generations in mind, we hope everyone can experience the joy of reuse and the happiness of sharing.” He added, “As the Citizen Sharing Market celebrates its 22nd anniversary this year, we will continue to strive to make it more actively accessible in citizens’ daily lives.”

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