Korea Celebrates Recycling Day with Exhibit Featuring Plastic Monster and Free Coffee

In Korea, 500 free mini plants, a plastic monster, and free coffee are all part of an exhibit honoring Resource Recycling Day.

Recycling Tech in an Exhibit

On Thursday, Sept. 7, the Seoul municipal administration will host an exhibition highlighting the most recent recycling innovations in Korea.

Alongside the exhibition, the city authorities will also hold a gathering for those who bring their own cups or tumblers.

At the one-day event in Seoul Plaza in front of Seoul City Hall, there will be over 40 booths built by over 20 recycling-focused businesses, social enterprises, and cooperatives.

Visitors can find rubbish being separated by robots based on the type of waste in one area. They will also learn about pyrolysis, a heating technique for breaking down bio-polymers, and view the newest items created from discarded PET bottles and coffee grounds.

Furthermore, visitors will have the opportunity to create their own magnets using used keyboards in another event provided at the exhibition thanks to a scrap metal recycling facility in Seoul's Seongbuk District.

Pop quizzes will be held by the Korea Resource Circulation Service Agency and the Korea Packaging Recycling Cooperative, testing visitors' comprehension of appropriate recycling.

In another area, cutting-edge devices will be on exhibit to highlight innovative recycling technologies, including an AI-run dispenser for multi-use cups, a table formed from abandoned automobiles, and a chair fashioned from waste cardboard boxes.

Plastic Monster and Average Plastic Footprint

A specifically crafted plastic monster made out of 102 plastic cups, 568 plastic food delivery containers, 109 PET water bottles, and 533 plastic bags will be installed inside Seoul Plaza.

The average plastic footprint of an individual in 2020 is represented by those numbers.

The monster was created to warn tourists that what they eat will return to haunt them, according to the Resource Recirculation Division of the Climate and Environment Headquarters of the city government, which is in charge of organizing the event.

Recycling Day in Korea

Wednesday's celebration of the nation's National Recycling Day will also include a unique cafe where guests will receive free coffee or other drinks if they bring their own tumblers.

The local council is giving away 500 miniature flower pots to visitors who leave notes at the cafe urging others to quit using disposable cups.

A circular economy can only be attained by minimizing and reusing plastic trash, according to Kim Kwon-gi of the Resource Recirculation Division.

Kim expressed her hope that visitors to the exhibition will see waste as a means of accomplishing qualitative improvement in the city's resource circulation initiatives.

Resource Recycling Park

With a system capable of eco-friendly trash disposal and effective resource recycling, the Songpa Resource Recycling Park has successfully handled all home waste in the Songpa area since it opened in November 2011.

The park has wooden benches along with rooftop gardens in addition to being a waste treatment facility.

Residents and students can learn the value of resource recycling and practice the proper segregation and disposal of recyclable waste in the promotional hall functioning in the Central Support Center building.