Aluminium cans collected in South Jeolla Province will be gathered through the post office network and recycled into carbon-reducing steel.

The Ministry of Science and ICT’s Postal Service signed a business agreement on April 21 in Gwangyang city’s community centre with POSCO M-TECH and the Jeollanam-do Volunteer Center for an efficient resource-circulation system.

The aluminium can postal collection programme will begin in earnest in May. The collected cans will be reprocessed into deoxidiser, a raw material that can be used to produce carbon-reducing steel, and reborn as steel.

The Postal Service will handle the collection and transport of aluminium cans using the nationwide post office network. POSCO M-TECH will provide dedicated aluminium collection bins and support collection activities, and will support postal logistics costs. The Jeonnam Volunteer Center will accept applications from 12 local volunteer centres and carry out aluminium can collection. It will also package collected cans in dedicated boxes and link them to post offices.

Postal Service chief Park In-hwan (박인환) said the agreement was an example of cooperation among the post office’s dense logistics network, private companies and local communities to contribute to spreading a resource-circulation culture. He said the agency would continue to expand cooperative projects that realise both public interest and environmental value.