Gwangju Seo-gu Village Community Delivers Recyclable Shopping Bags to Yangdong Market Merchants Association

Warm Atmosphere Hwajeong Village Protection Team - Secret Santa Seo-gu Headquarters Collaboration

Part of the Resource Circulation Project... Campaign to Reduce Plastic Bag Usage

The community group in Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, ‘Hwagi-aeae Hwajeong Village Climate Protection Team (Leader Kim Ho-hyun)’ recently delivered 1,004 recycled shopping bags to the Yangdong Dried Seafood Market Merchants Association together with the Love’s Secret Santa Seo-gu Headquarters (Representative Kang Seung-chul).

‘Hwagi-aeae Hwajeong Village Climate Protection Team’ is conducting a resource circulation project that exchanges the many shopping bags accumulated at homes for designated waste bags and reuses the collected bags at the market.

The shopping bags delivered this time were collected from Hills State Apartments and Hanyang Apartments in Hwajeong 2-dong, Seo-gu, and Naebang Jugong Apartments in Hwajeong 1-dong.

Kang Seung-chul, representative of Love’s Secret Santa Seo-gu Branch, said, “Although sorting by size and disinfecting after collection was difficult, it was rewarding to help merchants reduce the use of plastic bags.”

Kim Tae-jin, a Seo-gu council member who attended the delivery ceremony, emphasized the significance by saying, “This is a project in which any citizen can participate to respond to the climate crisis.”

Lee Myung-geun, president of the Yangdong Dried Seafood Merchants Association, also said, “Reducing the use of plastic bags and disinfecting them to keep them clean has received a very enthusiastic response from the merchants.”

The village community ‘Hwagi-aeae Hwajeong’ has been actively carrying out projects such as education, village exploration, and climate crisis response in the Hwajeong-dong area of Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City since 2021, led by village activist Ki Chun-hee.

Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Shin Dong-ho yjm3070@asiae.co.kr