Gwangju City to Mandate Separate Disposal of Transparent PET Bottles Starting December 25

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 25th that, in accordance with the revision of the 'Guidelines on the Separation and Collection of Recyclable Resources,' transparent PET bottle separation and disposal will be mandatory for apartment complexes starting December 25 this year, and for single-family houses starting December 25 next year.

Transparent PET bottles can be used as high-quality recycled materials such as fibers, but until now, they have been disposed of together with colored PET bottles or general plastics, preventing proper utilization.

The same applies to paper packs. When paper and paper packs are separated and disposed of, paper can be recycled into new paper, and paper packs can be recycled into toilet paper or facial tissues. However, 70% of the paper packs disposed of in South Korea are not properly separated, resulting in a low recycling rate.

Additionally, oily paper inside chicken boxes, containers with foreign substances that are not removed even after washing, fruit nets, fruit packaging materials, toothbrushes, pens, rubber gloves, and aluminum foil vinyl must be disposed of in designated volume-based waste bags.

Before the mandatory implementation of transparent PET bottle separation and disposal in apartment complexes this December, Gwangju City has been guiding proper separation and collection methods by producing and distributing three types of promotional materials such as banners to apartment complexes since last month. For vulnerable areas such as single-family houses and one-room apartments, the city has been striving to establish a proper separation and disposal culture through the Our Neighborhood Cleanliness Project (a public job project involving 1,092 people / 6.3 billion KRW) since July.

Park Jae-woo, head of the city's Resource Management Division, said, "We hope for active cooperation in separating and collecting recyclable materials with high recycling value such as transparent PET bottles and paper packs, and in installing separation and disposal boxes in apartment complexes."