Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it will hold the opening ceremony for the 5th “Our Neighborhood Social Value Management (ESG) Center” in Jung-gu today (14th) at 10:00 a.m.
The ceremony will be attended by the Director General of the Social Welfare Bureau of Busan Metropolitan City, Choi Jin-bong, Mayor of Jung-gu, Yoon Yong-hwan, Head of Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Regional Sales Group of KB Kookmin Bank, Kim Yang-jin, Head of the Busan-Ulsan Regional Headquarters of the Korea Labor Force Development Institute for the Aged, and representatives from Lotte Chemical.
<Opening Ceremony Overview> - Date/Time & Venue: August 14, 2025 (Thursday) 10:00 a.m. / 5th “Our Neighborhood Social Value Management (ESG) Center” (Yeongju-dong, Jung-gu) - Participating Organizations: Busan Metropolitan City, Jung-gu, KB Kookmin Bank, Korea Labor Force Development Institute for the Aged, Lotte Chemical - Main Program: Welcome speeches, progress report and business briefing, ribbon-cutting ceremony, commemorative photo, facility tour, etc.
The 5th center in Jung-gu is the first case of remodeling a closed daycare center into an “Our Neighborhood Social Value Management (ESG) Center” for new use.
The Yeongju Daycare Center, which closed in October 2023, was transformed to serve as a new hub for practicing sustainable environmental protection. This initiative assigns a new role to an idle urban space in the era of low birth rates and an aging population, thereby creating renewed value and implementing another form of ESG.
The 5th center (Jung-gu) will carry out projects to recycle local waste resources together with senior job participants.
By upcycling waste plastic, coffee grounds, and other materials into new products, the center will also operate children’s environmental education programs.
Going forward, the city plans to expand the “Our Neighborhood Social Value Management (ESG) Center” model across Busan, and further to the rest of the country and the world.
Following the Jung-gu center, the city aims to establish five more centers by the end of this year to reach ten in total, and to open up to sixteen by next year (2026).
As a core initiative of the “15-Minute City” policy, the “Our Neighborhood Social Value Management (ESG) Center” project has expanded nationwide as an eco-friendly senior job creation program, including:
▲ Nationwide rollout of the senior job model linked to the project (September 2023)
▲ Opening of the Michuhol-gu, Incheon branch (October 2024)
▲ Winner of the Chosun Ilbo Environmental Award (July 2025)
In addition, it has gained global recognition through achievements such as:
▲ Proposal for a recycling cooperation project with the Ministry of Tourism and Environment of Timor-Leste (March 2025)
▲ Selection for the Paraguay Solid Waste Management Capacity-Building Global Training Program (April 2025)
▲ Winning an international environmental award (May 2025)
Jung Tae-gi, Director General of the Social Welfare Bureau, stated, “The ‘Our Neighborhood Social Value Management (ESG) Center’ project is an eco-friendly senior job initiative recognized not only nationwide but also internationally. Its continued expansion will lead the way in preventive welfare, and we will do our utmost to make Busan a safe and pleasant city for seniors to live in.”
This content has been translated by AI. Please refer to the attached original Korean version for accuracy if needed.
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Link to Busan press releases in Korean