Yongin City to Share School Cafeteria Leftovers with Welfare Facilities

Yongin Special City announced on September 30 that it has established a plan to provide spare meals from school cafeterias to local welfare facilities.

The city signed a business agreement for a 'School Cafeteria Meal Reserve Sharing Pilot Program' with Yongin Office of Education, Seongji High School, Singal High School, the Volunteer Center, and welfare facility officials at the city hall reception room on the same day.

School cafeteria meal reserves refer to clean surplus food that has been cooked but not served to students. According to the agreement, from October 19 to December, Seongji High School and Singal High School will provide meal reserves to Yongin Saemaul Community Free Meal Center and Giheung Senior Welfare Center, respectively. When Seongji High School and Singal High School package the meal reserves in dedicated containers, the Yongin School Meal Support Center will transport and deliver them to requesting facilities, and the requesting facilities will reheat, portion, and distribute them.

The city plans to examine the occurrence of meal reserves per school and hygiene and safety management during the pilot program period, and then gradually expand participating schools and requesting facilities starting in 2027.

Yongin Special City Mayor Lee Sang-il said, "I hope more schools will participate and more people will benefit from this sharing initiative."