Yeongdeungpo-gu wins gold at national used-appliance collection contest, only Seoul district to do so

Yeongdeungpo-gu has won a gold award at the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy's "2026 Excellence in Free Home-Pickup Collection of Used Home Appliances" contest, making it the only Seoul district to receive the honor.

The contest was designed to identify best practices among local governments nationwide by comprehensively evaluating their performance in free home-pickup collection of used appliances and improvements to their collection systems.

Judging proceeded in three stages — written review, on-site evaluation and a final comprehensive assessment. Yeongdeungpo-gu received high marks for its collection depot management, expansion of free home-pickup services, development of a collection system for small and mid-size appliances, and resident outreach.

Particularly notable was the district's overhaul of how residents dispose of small and mid-size used appliances. Yeongdeungpo-gu became the first district in Seoul to add a small and mid-size appliance pickup request function to the existing online large-waste disposal system, allowing residents to schedule collection of items such as electric rice cookers and electric fans via PC or smartphone — without having to visit a neighborhood community center in person.

The district also installed dedicated collection bins for small and mid-size used appliances at 46 apartment complexes, giving elderly residents unfamiliar with online services and busy workers a nearby drop-off option that requires no advance registration.

Yeongdeungpo-gu also ran an environmental education initiative for children, operating a "traveling recycling education" program at 11 local elementary schools that reached 1,402 students. The program taught proper disposal methods for used appliances and explained the purpose of the free home-pickup collection system.

Building on the award, the district said it plans to continue improving its used-appliance collection system so that residents can more easily take part in resource recycling in their daily lives.

"This award is thanks to our residents, who actively joined us in proper waste sorting and resource recycling," a Yeongdeungpo-gu official said. "We will keep building a collection system that anyone can use easily and conveniently to practice resource recycling."