Iksan City Improves Methods for Collecting Empty Bottles and Disposing of Large Waste Items

Ministry of the Interior and Safety Selected for Supporting the Spread of Innovative Resident Life Cases

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hong Jaehee] Iksan City, Jeonbuk Province, is improving the collection method of empty bottles and large waste discharge to increase resource recycling rates and enhance citizens' convenience.

On the 14th, according to the city, it was selected for the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's 'Resident Life Innovation Case Expansion Support Project' and secured 77 million KRW in national funds.

Accordingly, the city is establishing an 'Online Large Waste Easy Discharge System' that allows citizens to easily dispose of large waste using the internet and mobile apps.

Once the service is implemented, citizens will be able to apply for discharge and make payments simultaneously 24 hours a day, anytime and anywhere, making waste disposal more convenient.

Previously, to dispose of large waste, citizens had to visit the Eup, Myeon, or Dong administrative welfare centers in person to pay fees, which was cumbersome.

Along with this, the city will operate a 'Visiting Return Collection Vehicle' and install unmanned collection machines so that citizens can conveniently return empty bottles.

Earlier, to resolve issues such as refusal of empty bottle returns at retail stores, the city operated an empty bottle container return collection center at the temporary public parking lot in Inhwa-dong from June last year, the first in the province, but accessibility problems were raised.

The city plans to establish this service by the first half of next year so that citizens can use it as soon as possible. Once the service is fully implemented, it is expected to improve not only citizens' convenience but also administrative efficiency.

A city official said, "We will do our best to continuously improve administrative services closely related to residents' lives, like this project, to resolve citizens' inconveniences."