Two units installed at World Cup IPARK in Seongsan-dong... expected to ease collection, transport burden and cut processing costs

Processing up to 198kg daily, district to run yearlong trial before weighing expansion

A large-capacity food waste reducer at World Cup IPARK (6 Moraenae-ro 9-gil)
A large-capacity food waste reducer at World Cup IPARK (6 Moraenae-ro 9-gil)

Mapo-gu will install two large-capacity food waste reducers at World Cup IPARK (6 Moraenae-ro 9-gil) and run a trial operation aimed at cutting food waste generated at apartment complexes.

Food waste has a high moisture content, making collection, transport and processing costly while raising concerns about odor and pests. Particularly in apartment complexes where many households live together, cutting food waste at the point of disposal is important.

The large-capacity reducer dehydrates, dries and ferments food waste, cutting its volume by up to about 80 percent. The remaining byproduct can be recycled into animal feed or compost after further processing.

To select an apartment complex for the trial, the district surveyed demand in April among local apartment complexes with 90 to fewer than 400 households.

The district then reviewed installation space and the feasibility of electrical and plumbing work at the complexes that applied, and selected World Cup IPARK as the site for the two reducers.

The two installed reducers can each process 99 kilograms of food waste per day, for a combined 198 kilograms.

For about a year, the district will cover equipment rental, maintenance and disposal of leftover byproducts, while the apartment complex will pay the electricity costs.

During this period, the district will analyze the operation's performance, resident satisfaction and waste-reduction effects. It will then decide whether to expand the program to more complexes and improve how it is run.

The district is also continuing other food waste reduction measures, including operating RFID individual metering devices that charge fees based on the amount of waste disposed, and an incentive project that provides cleaning supplies to complexes with strong reduction results.

"The more households live together in an apartment complex, the more important collective efforts to reduce food waste become," Mapo-gu District Mayor Yoo Dong-kyun said. "We will carefully examine the reduction effects and resident satisfaction from this trial operation and develop reduction policies tailored to apartment complexes."


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