Starting the '2020 Resource Circulation City Eunpyeong Project'

Urging Active Participation in Recycling Waste Separation

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) strongly instructed all executives, all departments, and each dong at the expanded executive meeting on the 4th to thoroughly separate recyclable materials and actively participate in making 2020 the "Resource Circulation City Eunpyeong."

The Ministry of Environment started separate collection of transparent waste PET bottles in apartment complexes from July this year and will expand it to all areas from January next year. Seoul City will also implement a waste vinyl day-based collection system from July this year. Eunpyeong-gu is currently piloting the ‘Recyclable Collection Hub MoaMoa Project.’ It can be considered a leading example of public-private cooperation to improve the recyclable material processing system ahead of the plans by the Ministry of Environment and Seoul City.

Currently, residents of detached houses mix all recyclable materials in one bag. Mixing recyclables lowers the recycling rate because sorting recyclable materials incurs high costs, and contaminated recyclables cannot be recycled. As a result, South Korea imports 87,000 tons of waste PET annually. The low recycling rate leads to economic losses.

To address these issues, the ‘Recyclable Collection Hub MoaMoa Project’ has been implemented in Galhyeon 2-dong since October last year (2019.10.7). Ten designated recycling hubs in the dong operate every Monday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for four hours. Residents come to the hubs and separate recyclables into nine categories themselves.

From the 6th session, about 900 people participated, collecting a total of 20 tons, and participating residents requested continuous operation. Accordingly, from March this year, Galhyeon 2-dong will operate at 20 hubs, with 10 more added, and the project is planned to expand to all dongs in Eunpyeong-gu in the second half of the year.

Furthermore, to improve the criticism that the existing mixed compressed collection of recyclables nullifies residents’ efforts to separate waste, the Eunpyeong-gu mobile team in the pilot dong of the Recyclable Collection Hub MoaMoa strictly separates collection without compression or mixing, raising expectations for overall improvement of the recyclable material processing system.

The principle of recyclable separation is ‘Undangundarihanda-ji-anhneunda’ meaning ‘No mixing, no contamination.’ Since last year, Eunpyeong-gu has promoted this principle through customized resource circulation education visits, avoiding disposable items at various events, and meetings of various professional organizations.

A district official stated that they will actively promote the Ministry of Environment and Seoul City’s separate collection projects for transparent waste PET bottles and waste vinyl at recycling stations and MoaMoa hubs to encourage residents’ practice.

Mayor Kim Mi-kyung urged all employees and residents to actively participate in separation through recycling stations and the MoaMoa project and expressed determination to build the Eunpyeong Metropolitan Resource Circulation Center. Based on cooperation among the three northwestern districts of Seoul, the center, scheduled for completion in 2023, will be made the best facility for sorting ‘marketable recyclables.’