District's first children's upcycling market launches with 10 young seller teams; residents can trade used goods, enjoy food in reusable containers, and swap waste vinyl and paper cartons for household supplies
Seoul's Songpa-gu will hold its "Upcycling and Children's Market" on Saturday at the plaza across from the Seongnae Stream water play area.
The event is a community-driven resource-circulation festival designed to spread a culture of reuse and encourage residents to practice carbon neutrality in their daily lives by buying, selling and exchanging usable items. Particularly notable this year is the district's first-ever children's upcycling market, where children participate directly as sellers.
Ten teams of young sellers will offer toys, books and household goods for sale or trade at the children's section. The program is designed to let children experience the value of resource circulation through the hands-on act of buying and selling. Registration closed early due to strong demand.
The event is organized around three components: an upcycling market, a food market and a lifestyle-practice campaign. Residents can experience the full cycle of resource circulation firsthand — from reusing items and using reusable containers to sorting recyclables for separate collection.
The upcycling market will feature a "1,000-Won Happiness" corner, where usable secondhand clothing, bags and miscellaneous goods are sold for 1,000 won or less. The corner is intended to help residents share unneeded belongings with neighbors who can use them.
The food market will serve tteokbokki, kimbap and other dishes in reusable containers. Participants who return their empty containers after eating and verify the return through the OnTree app will receive a 0.6-liter food-waste garbage bag.
The lifestyle-practice campaign booth will run a resource-circulation exchange where residents can swap waste vinyl and paper cartons for household supplies. One kilogram of waste vinyl can be exchanged for one 10-liter garbage bag. Two kilograms of paper cartons — including both standard and aseptic cartons — can be exchanged for one roll of tissue paper and one 10-liter garbage bag.
Songpa-gu launched the event as a green market in 2013 and expanded it into the current upcycling market format after the COVID-19 pandemic, steadily growing its scale and programming since then.
Last year, the district partnered with local businesses to operate reusable-container experience booths, offer reusable cup rentals and run an environmental quiz. A total of 70 teams participated, and combined sales proceeds and donations raised approximately 15 million won (about $9,880), which went to support low-income families in the district.
The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is organized by the Songpa-gu Saemaul Women's Association (chairperson Han Seon-yeong). The market will accommodate up to 100 seller teams, and residents who wish to join may also register on-site.
Songpa-gu District Mayor Seo Gang-seok said the market was designed to give residents a hands-on way to practice resource reuse in their daily lives while letting children experience the importance of the environment naturally. "We will continue working to spread a resource-circulation culture that anyone can easily take part in," he said.
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