A delegation including Zhambyl Region's deputy governor visited the district's resource recovery center on Tuesday to study its recycling sorting operations and facility modernization experience.
A delegation from Kazakhstan's Zhambyl Region visited Seongdong-gu's resource recovery center on Tuesday to benchmark the district's recycling sorting operations and resource circulation policies, the district said.
The delegation, led by Deputy Governor Yesmagambetova Aizhan Serikbayevna, toured the facility to observe its operations and resource circulation policies firsthand. Seongdong-gu District Mayor Yoo Bo-hwa greeted the visitors in person and extended a formal welcome.
The delegation toured the full recycling process — from the intake of recyclable materials through item-by-item sorting to final processing — and received a briefing on the district's facility modernization efforts and operational expertise.
The visit was arranged to help Zhambyl Region explore options for building and operating its own recycling facility, while also benchmarking Seongdong-gu's waste separation system and waste reduction policies.
Seongdong-gu's resource recovery center, a recycling sorting facility built in 2005, underwent two major modernization projects — in 2018 and 2023 — to keep pace with growing recycling demand. The upgrades replaced aging equipment and improved the stability and efficiency of the sorting process.
The center's operational capabilities have earned national recognition. It was named the top recycling sorting facility by the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy for four consecutive years from 2020 to 2023, and received an "excellent" designation in 2025.
Alongside facility upgrades, Seongdong-gu has made measurable progress in cutting household waste. The district is pursuing a phased plan to reduce household waste by 20 percent from 2020 levels by 2027, and in 2025 it cut waste from 65,615 tons to 56,337 tons — a 14.14 percent reduction, surpassing its interim target of 14 percent.
The district told the delegation that sorting efficiency depends heavily on how well residents separate waste at the source, and that it has strengthened its resource circulation system by pairing facility improvements with ongoing efforts to promote proper waste separation and continuous operational refinement.
After touring the site, the Zhambyl delegation took note of how Seongdong-gu had built a stable operational foundation through two rounds of modernization and achieved tangible waste reduction through a systematic reduction plan. The delegation said it intends to draw actively on Seongdong-gu's experience — not only in setting up operations at the recycling facility currently under construction in Zhambyl Region, but also in establishing a culture of proper waste separation among residents and developing waste reduction policies.
"I hope Seongdong-gu's experience proves genuinely useful to Zhambyl Region — not just in building and running its recycling facility, but also in fostering a culture of proper waste separation and shaping waste reduction policies," District Mayor Yoo said. "We will continue to build a stable and efficient resource circulation system and share our policy experience with cities at home and abroad."
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