Seoul City Uses Local Election Banner Waste as Building Material to Create Outdoor Reading Space at Namsan Library

Lotte Home Shopping, Korea Environment Corporation, and Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Sign MOU for Resource Circulation and ESG Management
Eco-friendly Textile Panels Made by Recycling Waste Banners and Clothing to Replace Wood

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 19th that it has signed a 'Business Agreement for Resource Circulation and ESG Management Practice' with the Korea Environment Corporation, Lotte Home Shopping, and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education at the seminar room on the 5th floor of Namsan Library, and will cooperate in the eco-friendly space creation project at Namsan Library using waste banners and discarded clothing as building materials.

Attending the agreement ceremony were Yoo Yeon-sik, Head of the Climate and Environment Headquarters of Seoul City; Shin Sung-bin, Head of Marketing Headquarters at Lotte Home Shopping; Ham Hye-seong, Director of Lifelong Career Education Bureau at Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education; and Kim Eun-sook, Head of Resource Circulation Headquarters at Korea Environment Corporation.

The main contents of the agreement include ▲support for collection and transportation of waste banners linked with local governments and promotion of the project ▲creation of eco-friendly space at Namsan Library using waste banners to realize corporate ESG ▲support for environmental education using recycled products.

With a large amount of election promotional materials and waste banners expected to be generated throughout Seoul before and after the local elections on June 1, the city has been reviewing effective utilization methods using recycling technology beyond just making shopping bags.

Seoul City plans to support district offices with the cost of producing waste banner sacks to be used in the one-room recycling station project to ensure that waste banners used in elections can be recycled. At the same time, it will identify district offices capable of collecting, sorting, and transporting waste banners and link them with social enterprises producing building materials from waste fibers to participate in the eco-friendly space creation project at Namsan Library.

This year is especially meaningful as Namsan Library celebrates its 100th anniversary. The city plans to create an eco-friendly space on the outdoor area of the 2nd floor of Namsan Library where citizens can enjoy reading and leisure, and actively cooperate with Lotte Home Shopping.

Yoo Yeon-sik, Head of the Climate and Environment Headquarters, said, "Through this pilot project, we have been able to spread exemplary cases of utilizing waste resources and contribute to raising citizens' awareness of environmental issues." He added, "We will continue to cooperate with the Korea Environment Corporation and related organizations to propose legal amendments to reduce election waste, strive to establish an eco-friendly election culture, and disseminate recycling methods that can create a resource circulation system to district offices to encourage participation."