The Seoul Metropolitan Government will introduce reusable containers at Samsung Medical Center’s funeral hall. (Image courtesy of Seoul City)
SEOUL, Jul. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on July 1 that it will introduce reusable containers at Samsung Medical Center’s funeral hall starting this month. This marks the first instance of a large-scale funeral facility in a top-tier general hospital participating in Seoul’s reusable container policy.
Last year, the city government unveiled a comprehensive plan to tackle single-use plastics, aiming to reduce plastic waste by 10% and cut greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 130,000 tons annually. As part of this initiative, the city has been operating disposable-free funeral halls in municipal hospitals such as Seoul Medical Center and Dongbu Hospital.
The city views Samsung Medical Center’s participation as particularly significant, coming just one year after the full implementation of reusable containers at Seoul Medical Center. This represents a successful expansion of the program from public to private healthcare institutions.
Samsung Medical Center’s involvement stems from an information session and demand survey conducted by the city in the latter half of last year regarding the introduction of reusable containers in funeral halls.
To minimize confusion, the hospital has designated the first six months, until December, as a trial period. During this time, the use of reusable containers will be mandatory in three of the 14 funeral parlors and recommended in the others.
In funeral halls using reusable containers, all food and beverages will be served in reusable dishes, utensils, and cups. A specialized company will collect, clean, and resupply these items to the funeral hall.
If all funeral attendees at Samsung Medical Center’s funeral hall participate in using reusable containers, it is estimated that waste could be reduced by up to 80% compared to the 131 tons generated last year.
To encourage voluntary participation, the city plans to allow the use of reusable containers in regular funeral parlors at no additional cost during the trial period.
Yeo Jang-kwon, head of Seoul’s Climate and Environment Headquarters, stated, “Through collaboration with Samsung Medical Center, one of the largest hospitals in Korea, more citizens will have access to reusable containers.” He added, “We will do our utmost to make the use of reusable containers more commonplace than disposables in funeral halls.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
