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900 Seniors to Safeguard Busan’s Future: Launch of “Our Neighborhood Safe Collection Team for Unused Medications”

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Busan Metropolitan City Mayor Park Heong-joon announced that the city will hold the launch ceremony for the “Our Neighborhood Safe Collection Team for Unused Medications” (hereinafter, the “Safe Collection Team”) at 10:00 a.m. today (January 30) in the City Hall Grand Auditorium.

The ceremony will be attended by Mayor Park Heong-joon; Park Jeong-hye, Head of the Busan Branch of the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service; Lee Hyang-ran, Vice President of the Busan Branch of the Busan Pharmaceutical Association; Cheon Yeong-gwon, President of the Busan Senior Club Association; heads of senior job-operating organizations; and members of the Safe Collection Team, among others, totaling around 700 attendees.

The Safe Collection Team is Busan’s integrated welfare-environment-public health senior employment model, created to address the growing problem of unused medications while providing seniors with meaningful opportunities for social participation.

Busan is the first and only city/province to operate a mobile unused medication collection service across the region through senior employment.

Last year, Busan Metropolitan City ran a pilot mobile collection project and collected 306 kilograms (kg) of unused medications over two months from the end of September. Beginning this year, the city will formalize the project, expand its scale and collection areas, and build a sustainable collection system to fully implement the initiative.

Through cooperation between Busan Metropolitan City and 20 senior job-operating organizations in the Busan area, the Safe Collection Team will consist of a total of 900 seniors. The city plans to expand the number to around 1,000 by the end of the year.

At today’s launch ceremony, Busan Metropolitan City will announce the official start of the project together with the Safe Collection Team members. The event will proceed in the following order: opening remarks, congratulatory addresses, presentation of sponsored items (a set of unused medication collection boxes), reading of the pledge, a launch performance, and job training.

At the sponsored item presentation ceremony, the Busan Branch of the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service will show its support for the smooth implementation of the project by providing senior job-operating organizations with 60 sets of unused medication collection boxes worth KRW 5 million. The collection boxes will be installed in February at local senior centers, senior clubs, and administrative welfare centers, enabling citizens to conveniently dispose of unused medications generated in their households.

During the pledge reading, each participating organization will commit to cooperating to support healthy later-life living for seniors and to create a livable Busan through the creation of eco-friendly senior jobs. In addition, the Safe Collection Team members will declare their commitment to take the lead in safeguarding Busan’s future through the safe collection of unused medications and the proper practice of separation and disposal.

As part of job training, Safe Collection Team members will complete safety training on separating and disposing of unused medications, conducted by the Busan Pharmaceutical Association.

Starting in February, the Safe Collection Team will begin full-scale mobile collection service activities across all 16 districts and counties in Busan, helping prevent environmental pollution and protect citizens’ health.

The team will focus its activities on everyday community spaces such as apartment complexes, senior centers, senior clubs, administrative welfare centers, and pharmacies. During the collection process, the team will also conduct daily-life environment and public health promotional activities by providing guidance on how to dispose of unused medications and precautions to take. Collected unused medications will be safely disposed of through designated processing procedures.

This project is expected to draw attention as an opportunity to simultaneously realize social values such as environmental protection and the promotion of citizens’ health, while also expanding Busan’s eco-friendly senior jobs and driving sustainable change.

As cases of leaving unused medications at home, improper disposal, and misuse have increased due to a lack of awareness about proper handling, systematic collection activities using senior employment are expected to prevent illegal disposal and reduce misuse risks. This will protect citizens’ health and contribute to creating a clean water environment.

Meanwhile, Busan Metropolitan City’s eco-friendly senior employment initiatives have produced visible results and received positive evaluations both domestically and internationally. The “Unused Medication Safe Collection” senior employment project is expected to build on this momentum, expanding the scope of Busan’s eco-friendly senior jobs and establishing itself as a key project for creating sustainable social value.

Mayor Park Heong-joon is expected to say, “The Safe Collection Team for unused medications will become a representative Busan-style eco-friendly senior employment model that achieves three goals at once: expanding seniors’ social participation, protecting the environment, and promoting citizens’ health.” He is also expected to add, “Busan Metropolitan City will discover and expand sustainable eco-friendly senior jobs that safeguard Busan’s future, creating a healthier, more rewarding, and more enjoyable city—a city people would want to live in even if they were born again.”