[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-seong] Hwaseong City plans to raise the ice pack reuse rate from the current 24% to 100%.
The city signed a 'Business Agreement on Proper Treatment and Reuse of Ice Packs for Citizen-Led Plastic-Free Expansion' on the 13th at the city hall small conference room with the Korea Environmental Institute's Seoul Metro West Environmental Division and CJ Freshway Co., Ltd.
Under the agreement, the city will oversee the collection, transportation, and washing of ice packs, the Korea Environmental Institute will be responsible for discovering new demand sources and sharing government policies and supporting business operations, and CJ Freshway Co., Ltd. will ensure stable demand for ice packs.
The city has been building an ice pack reuse system since August of last year as the use of ice packs surged due to social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and increased delivery of parcels and fresh products.
Through approximately 30 collection boxes installed in the city, citizens dispose of ice packs, which are then sorted, washed, and disinfected in a first phase, then supplied to demand sources in need; however, only 24% have been reused due to inconsistent specifications and logos.
The city plans to raise the ice pack reuse rate to 100% through collaboration with large-scale demand sources with a nationwide network.
Vice Mayor Lim Jong-chul said, "We plan to additionally install approximately 30 ice pack collection boxes by November," and "We will do our best to reduce household waste by increasing the collection rate so that discarded ice packs are no longer wasted."
Meanwhile, the city plans to produce and distribute 100,000 ice pack zipper packs for packaging by this month to encourage participation from local small business owners in reuse efforts.
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