[Suwon Ilbo = Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City is expanding its 'Recycled Ice Pack Sharing Project'.
This follows the city's successful implementation of a recycled ice pack sharing initiative last summer, during which it collected 35,000 ice packs over three months and distributed them to large distribution centers, logistics companies, and livestock operations.
The 'Recycled Ice Pack Sharing Project' involves the city collecting ice packs and distributing them to large distribution centers within the city, which then provide the recycled ice packs free of charge to customers or use them when shipping fresh food items.
This year's project will run through September across all of Suwon, with the city collecting ice packs from 44 dong administrative welfare centers and 8 apartment complexes since July. Only clean ice packs can be recycled.
The collected ice packs are thoroughly cleaned by collection and cleaning contractors and then supplied to large distribution centers, logistics companies, and traditional markets.
On the 3rd of this month, the city signed a 'Memorandum of Understanding for Promoting Ice Pack Recycling' with five Homeplus Suwon locations (North Suwon, West Suwon, East Suwon, Woncheon, and Yeongdeung branches) and established a cooperative system for the ice pack recycling project.
Under the agreement, the city will establish an ice pack reuse system and provide collection boxes and reused ice packs to the five Homeplus branches.
Homeplus will place dedicated freezers for ice packs in stores and distribute collected ice packs free of charge to citizens. The company will also actively promote the ice pack sharing project.
Meanwhile, the city plans to establish cooperative systems not only with the five Homeplus branches but also with traditional markets and large distribution centers to maximize the volume of recycled ice packs.
A city official stated, "The most important aspect of the recycled ice pack sharing project is actually utilizing the collected ice packs to prevent resource waste," and added, "We hope that the ice pack recycling project will spread to other local governments and contribute to reducing waste."