Seoul's Songpa-gu said it will extend its waste vinyl direct-reward program — which lets residents exchange household waste vinyl for standard garbage bags — through November.
Since launching in March, the program has drawn 1,746 participants in just five months. Together they have turned in 12,032 kg of waste vinyl, surpassing 12 tons, and received 12,032 ten-liter garbage bags in return — representing an equivalent reduction in household waste that would otherwise have been incinerated or landfilled.
Strong and growing resident participation underpinned those results. As participant numbers and collected vinyl volumes continued to climb and the recycling rate rose, the district received repeated requests to keep the program going. In response, the district extended it through November, three months beyond the original August end date.
The program encourages residents to sort and set aside reusable waste vinyl themselves. Residents who bring 1 kg of clean, washed and dried waste vinyl to their local community center receive one 10-liter standard garbage bag in exchange.
The program is open to residents of single-family housing areas — excluding apartment complexes — and exchanges can be made at 18 community centers, including Pungnam 1-dong.
Exchanges are held Mondays through Fridays of the second and fourth weeks of each month, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. On Fridays, morning hours only are available.
The district said it will decide next year whether to continue the program based on a comprehensive review of resident participation rates and the available supply of garbage bags.
"The strong participation of residents has made it possible to extend the waste vinyl direct-reward program," Songpa-gu District Mayor Seo Gang-seok said. "We will continue to roll out a range of resource-circulation policies to help a culture of proper waste sorting take root in Songpa."
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