Installation of Reusable Cup Storage and Return Boxes on Each Floor of District Office Pantries... Convenient to Use and Contributes to Carbon Reduction... Both Public and Private Sectors Join Efforts to Reduce Single-Use Items, Promise ESG Agreement and Cooperation in Environmentally Friendly Operation of Tongin Market Lunchbox Cafe
Jongno-gu (District Mayor Jeong Munheon) is actively leading efforts to reduce single-use items in public institutions to prevent resource waste and environmental pollution.
A representative example is the pilot operation since July in collaboration with ‘Green Up,’ where reusable cup storage and return boxes have been installed in the pantry rooms on each floor of the district office building.
Anyone can freely take a cup from the reusable cup storage box installed in the pantry rooms on each floor, use it, and then place it in the return box, making it convenient to use and meaningful in contributing to carbon reduction.
The cups collected in the return boxes are gathered and sent to Green Up’s own cleaning facility, where they undergo ultrasonic cleaning and high-temperature sterilization before being provided again.
Assuming that one Jongno-gu employee uses 2 to 3 single-use plastic or paper cups per day on average, using reusable cups can reduce the use of about 50 single-use cups per month.
A district office employee said, “Previously, single-use cups were often used for various meetings and civil service responses, but the environment for using reusable cups has changed that. Tumblers were somewhat inconvenient to wash, but reusable cups are very convenient because you just take them from the storage box and put them directly into the return box.”
Meanwhile, efforts to reduce single-use items continue not only in the public sector but also in the private sector.
On the 9th, Jongno-gu signed an ESG business agreement with the Tongin Market Merchants Association, the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Tongin Market Cultural Tourism Promotion Project Group to improve the environment for single-use container disposal at Tongin Market. On this day, each institution recognized the problems of single-use item usage in the market’s representative lunchbox cafe and agreed to cooperate for environmentally friendly operations.
The Merchants Association, as a voluntary entity, will strive to operate a cafe without single-use items, and the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation promised to support about 20 million KRW for installing dishwashers and purchasing related supplies. Jongno-gu and the project group will be responsible for construction, management, and supervision to establish an ESG environment.
District Mayor Jeong Munheon stated, “Since small actions by individuals can bring about great changes, I hope that not only the public sector but also the private and public sectors actively participate in reducing the use of single-use items.”
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