Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young: "Let's Live a Day Without Plastic for the Environment"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young said on the evening of the 23rd at the opening ceremony of the Waste Center held at Cheongun Community Welfare Center in Seongdong-gu, Seoul: "A small practice of using a tumbler instead of disposable plastic cups is the first step toward saving polar bears whose populations are declining due to climate change."

Mayor Yeom Tae-young, who participated as a panelist in the "Earth Environment Talk Show" at the event, said, "Reducing disposable products use becomes a major force in responding to climate change and can prevent national crises like the 'recycling waste crisis' that occurred in 2018," and proposed, "Let's all live a day without plastic."

The Waste Center, established by the civic organization "Citizens' Living Policy Research Institute," plans to create laws and ordinances related to domestic waste together with the National Assembly, local governments, and regional councils, and conduct projects to reduce waste with residents. The center's director is Lee Dong-hak, author of "Garbage Book," which was selected as an excellent environmental book by the Ministry of Environment in 2020.

Mayor Yeom Tae-young participated in the talk show themed "From a Village's Garbage to the Earth's Climate Change" as the chair of the Council of Mayors and Governors of Korea. The talk show was moderated by Director Lee Dong-hak, and Seoul Eunpyeong District Chief Kim Mi-kyung participated as a panelist alongside Mayor Yeom Tae-young.

Mayor Yeom Tae-young stated, "If citizens empathize with the climate crisis and have the will to practice actions such as 'reducing single-use plastic,' citizens themselves will be able to create various forms of climate action."

He continued, "Local governments created diverse and innovative policies during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote the success story of 'K-quarantine,'" and added, "In the face of climate crisis, world-class 'climate crisis response models' will continue to emerge in various towns across our country."

He went on to say, "Just as small streams gather to form a great river, the will of citizens and local governments will come together to achieve 'climate action from below.'"