Reborn as a Textile Park Chair Discarded from a Sewing Factory?

Selected for the 2022 Seongbuk-gu Sharing Promotion Contest, Sejin Plus (Resource Recycling Company)... Installed 5 benches in Odong Neighborhood Park using waste fabric discarded from local sewing factories

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Waste textiles discarded from sewing factories in Seongbuk-gu (Mayor Seungro Lee) have been reborn as benches in Odong Neighborhood Park.

One of the companies selected in this year's Seongbuk-gu Sharing Promotion Contest, Sejin Plus Co., Ltd., utilized waste textiles discarded from local sewing factories to manufacture benches and installed them in local parks. With a project budget of 4 million KRW, on the 7th, five backrest benches were installed in front of the Forest Library (under construction) within Odong Neighborhood Park.

The Plusnel panels used for the resource recycling benches underwent a four-step process: In the first step, waste textiles discarded from local sewing factories were collected, gathered, sorted, and shredded to extract raw materials. The second step involved the carding process, where the shredded fibers were further refined into a cotton-like form. The third step produced raw materials for panel manufacturing by spreading and layering the carded fibers. Finally, the fourth step compressed (heated and cooled) the layered materials to produce the finished product.

Seongbuk-gu Mayor Seungro Lee stated, “Waste textile trash discarded has been reborn as excellent park benches through the sharing promotion project, solving resource issues and reducing waste generation, thus achieving a twofold effect of addressing urban problems.” He added, “We will continue to promote projects that can solve urban, resource, and social problems through sharing.”

Meanwhile, Seongbuk-gu annually promotes the Sharing Promotion Contest to solve urban problems and revitalize the sharing economy by recycling resources and discovering and sharing idle local resources. This year, a total of 14 local organizations (companies) applied, and five were selected, receiving a total project budget of 25 million KRW.