Not Waste but Resource Circulation, Focus on This City! ... Gumi City's Record-Breaking Resource Recycling Achievement

Awarded in 4 Categories Including Presidential Citation, Pursuing a Leading City in Sustainable Resource Circulation

Gumi City received the Presidential Citation in this year's local government performance evaluation for food waste management.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Gumi City, Gyeongbuk Province is gaining attention for achieving the greatest success ever in resource recycling policies. This year, Gumi City swept awards in four categories in the nationwide local government evaluations, including the Presidential Citation.

Gumi City (Mayor Kim Jang-ho) pursued a policy shift from waste disposal-centered policies over the past 20 years to waste resource recovery in 2022.

By promoting various resource circulation policies for creating a pleasant urban environment and waste resource recovery, in 2022, the city won the Presidential Citation (Grand Prize) in the local government performance evaluation for food waste management, the Minister of Environment Citation (Grand Prize) in the excellent local government contest for free home collection of waste home appliances, and the Minister of Environment Citation (Excellence Award) in the recyclable resource separate collection contest.

Additionally, it received the Gyeongbuk Governor’s Citation (Excellence Award) for the excellent case of local finance innovation in Gyeongbuk Province titled ‘Efficient Treatment of Leftover Food Waste to Reduce Small Business Burden and Increase Revenue,’ achieving top nationwide results in all aspects of resource recycling.

Gumi City has implemented a 100% food waste volume-based fee system, continuously promoted competitions to reduce food waste in apartment complexes, and installed RFID individual volume-based fee devices in one-room residential areas, achieving good results annually in nationwide local government evaluations for reducing food waste.

Especially this year, it achieved a 0.6% reduction in food waste per household compared to the previous year and received the Presidential Citation as the grand prize.

The food waste collected by the city is entirely converted into feed through the ‘Gumi City Leftover Food Feed Facility,’ reborn as high-quality feed and distributed free of charge to livestock farms, contributing to increased farm income.

Following the outbreak of African Swine Fever in 2019 and the complete suspension of feed supply due to COVID-19, the city promptly responded by advancing a biogas project. As a result, all leftover food waste can be recycled, and the city processes all leftover food waste generated by large-scale waste producers.

Efficient treatment of leftover food waste has reduced costs for small business owners and increased revenue, being selected as the best case in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.

Kim Jang-ho, Mayor of Gumi, leading the resource recycling project.

To reduce the burden of citizen fees and difficulties in disposing of large waste home appliances, the city has operated a free home collection service for waste home appliances since 2014. When waste home appliances are disposed of without fee burden, either by accumulating a certain amount or by reservation via internet or call center, the contracted company collects them, then sorts and crushes them to be reborn as new resources.

Through various promotional activities, establishment of collection boxes for small and medium-sized waste home appliances, and operation of joint collection centers, the collection rate increased by 19.2% compared to the previous year, earning the grand prize (Minister of Environment Citation) at the 2022 Excellent Local Government Contest for Free Home Collection of Waste Home Appliances.

The city also promoted ‘Proper Separate Collection Method Publicity and Transparent PET Bottle Separate Collection Pilot Project.’ Forty resource management helpers were deployed to 200 apartment complexes and one-room dense areas in towns and villages to provide on-site guidance and publicity on separate collection methods. In line with the mandatory transparent PET bottle separate collection system for apartment complexes in December 2020 and for detached houses in December 2021, the city piloted and supported sorting to increase citizen participation and the separate discharge rate of transparent PET bottles.

Furthermore, the city revised and paid recycling collection reward guidelines to separately classify transparent PET bottles and increase the payment rate. It provided dedicated transparent PET bottle disposal bags to about 10,000 households in Goea-eup Munseong-ri and Indong-dong detached houses and one-room areas, securing high value-added recyclable raw materials. This will be expanded citywide in Gumi in 2023.

The citizen participation resource circulation space ‘Hyanggi Nanumteo’ was also operated.

Citizens dispose of difficult-to-recycle ice packs at 25 designated collection boxes including administrative welfare centers. After collection, sorting, washing, drying, and sterilization, these are supplied free of charge to local small businesses through Hyanggi Nanumteo for reuse.

School uniforms are provided free of charge to students who have grown or transferred and need uniforms.

To address the lack of storage space at retail stores that return empty soju and beer bottles and to facilitate large-volume returns by citizens, empty containers can be returned at Hyanggi Nanumteo without quantity limits, and deposits are refunded.

Dedicated managers are assigned to vulnerable areas for separate collection such as detached houses, and four apartment-style recycling collection facilities called ‘Recycling Neighborhood Yards’ have been installed and a total of 25 are operated to establish a foundation for separate collection.

Citizens who bring 500g of paper packs to administrative welfare centers can exchange them for one roll of toilet paper, and those who collect 30 used batteries can exchange them for one set (two batteries). Vending machine robot-type automatic can and PET collection devices operate in six locations across five densely populated districts, where inserting cans and PET bottles accumulates points redeemable for cash. Face-to-face collection is also conducted for large quantities.

At Nakdonggang Sports Park, a resource circulation practice campaign was held. Through experiential quizzes, correct recycling separation methods were guided, and beverages were provided free of charge to those who brought reusable cups, promoting ways to reduce single-use items in daily life and various separation events.

A reusable ice pack collection box piloted by Gumi City.

Gumi City is promoting the first reusable container reuse support project in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province to reduce increased single-use plastic waste caused by non-face-to-face consumption and the spread of coffee culture due to COVID-19.

Participating stores use reusable containers and cups instead of single-use items when delivering food or providing takeout drinks if customers request.

Twenty environmentally excellent businesses that reduce single-use items in categories not subject to single-use item restrictions are selected and promoted.

This includes reusable container delivery restaurants, cafes offering discounts for beverage tumblers, and laundries reducing plastic garment bags and hangers.

Mayor Kim Jang-ho of Gumi City said, “Thanks to citizens’ interest and active practice, we were able to promote various resource circulation policies for creating a pleasant urban environment and waste resource recovery. We will promote various foundational projects to lead the resource circulation era, inform citizens, and create it together.”