Woowa Brothers, which operates Baedal Minjok, will build a "smart washing centre" in Cheonan, South Chungcheong province, and start a reusable-container delivery service, it said on Thursday.

The smart washing centre is part of a hub-based smart-city project that Baemin has joined since 2024. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the city of Cheonan have promoted the project to address urban problems such as the climate crisis and regional extinction. Baemin has participated in building a smart city that introduces an eco-friendly delivery value chain.

Whether delivery containers can be reused depends on hygiene management systems. Baemin and Cheonan built infrastructure that uses IT to manage the full process, including washing, quality inspection and history management. An eco-friendly startup, Itgreen, will run operations. After customers choose reusable containers in the Baemin app and place an order, they can request a return by QR code after eating, and Itgreen collects the containers and manages them at the washing centre.

The centre applies an AI vision automated inspection system that uses cameras to film containers and determine whether they have foreign substances or are damaged. It also introduced a history-management system using RFID, an electronic tag that recognises information wirelessly, to track each container's washing and usage history in real time. Baemin's reusable-container delivery service is available in 23 districts of Seoul and parts of Gyeonggi, Incheon and Jeju.

The company will also run promotions to encourage wider use of reusable containers. Through Sept. 3, it will give, on a first-come, first-served basis, a 10,000 won coupon to customers in Cheonan that can be used for reusable-container delivery orders of 15,000 won or more.

Kim Joong-hyun (김중현), head of Woowa Brothers' sustainable management office, said the company aims to spread an eco-friendly delivery culture across the Chungcheong region, starting with Cheonan. He said it will continue to cooperate with the government and local communities so the reusable-container delivery service can become a way of life that helps protect the environment and practice resource circulation.