Seoul City "Restaurants with Strong Odors, Apply for Odor Reduction Facility Support"

Seoul City announced on the 6th that it will promote a support project for odor reduction facilities targeting small-scale restaurants and others to alleviate citizens' discomfort caused by daily life odors.

Since 2016, the city has supported the installation costs or maintenance of reduction facilities for small businesses to resolve the increasing complaints about daily life odors in residential areas each year. This year, in addition to support for individual businesses, special support targets will be recruited for areas with a high concentration of restaurants generating significant daily life odors, such as food alleyways, global food streets, and areas where specialized restaurant streets and apartment complexes coexist.

The support target for each business is business owners who wish to newly install and operate reduction facilities after the project announcement date, and applications can be submitted to the environmental department of the local district office where the business is located starting from the 6th. Special support target areas will be selected through a public contest by the district offices. If the district office, in consultation with local merchant associations, confirms that more than 60% of restaurants or at least 10 restaurants in the area wish to install new facilities, they can submit an application to the Seoul City Environmental Policy Division.

Selected individual businesses will receive monthly support of 300,000 to 400,000 KRW for three years to cover maintenance costs of the reduction facilities, and businesses in special support target areas can receive up to 500,000 KRW per month for maintenance costs per business.

Heo Jeong-won, head of the Seoul City Environmental Policy Division, stated, “The odor reduction facility support project is a pioneering initiative led by Seoul City nationwide to enable small business owners to participate in creating a pleasant living environment without financial burden.” He added, “This year, we especially plan to provide special support for the installation of reduction facilities in densely populated restaurant areas, so we encourage active participation from business owners.”