Osan City to Pilot Ice Pack Recycling Collection Boxes at 30 Locations

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Osan City announced on the 24th that it will launch a pilot project to promote the reuse of ice packs.

The city will install ice pack collection boxes at administrative welfare centers and large apartment complexes. It will also collect reusable ice packs and provide them to merchants at Osaek Market.

With the recent expansion of delivery culture for fresh foods such as food items, single-use ice packs (over 200 million units annually by industry estimates, costing approximately 50 billion won) that are disposed of as household waste after one use are increasing rapidly. The city is taking active measures to address this reality.

To this end, the city plans to pilot install 30 ice pack collection boxes at administrative welfare centers and large apartment complexes (1,000 units or more) within the city.

Gyeonggi Province will manufacture and provide the collection boxes, while Osan City will install them and collect ice packs to deliver to Osaek Market merchants. The merchants will clean and disinfect the ice packs and then deliver them to stores for reuse.

The city expects this project to contribute to resource conservation and environmental protection, while reducing household waste bag purchase costs for residents and cutting ice pack purchase costs—an essential product for storing fresh goods—for Osaek Market merchants.

A city official stated, "We plan to monitor citizen reactions and usage at demand sources, conduct comprehensive reviews, and then add installation locations accordingly." For more information, contact the city's Sanitation and Resources Division (031-8036-6721).