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Coca-Cola, Oriental Brewery and other retailers in South Korea are upping their efforts to help lessen waste by ditching plastic and opting for recyclable packaging. It was reported that most of these companies are also doing this to attract environmentally-conscious customers that are growing in numbers.
As per The Korea Times, retailers in the country are shifting to the use of recycled plastic containers for fresh foods. They are also adding more eco-friendly packaging and looking for more ways to minimize their environmental impact.
It was mentioned that the Korean unit of the Coca-Cola Company Korea launched its 1.25-liter Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero products in new containers not long ago. The beverage manufacturer used recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles that are made with 10% recycled plastic materials that were used locally.
Oriental Brewery, which was initially founded by the Doosan Group and is currently owned by AB InBev, is also planning to launch the first chemically recycled PET bottle in the country for its beer line. It is aiming to remove all PET bottles with 25% recycled plastic by the year 2024 and replace them with the new chemically recycled types. Once replaced, the brewery expects to lower its plastic use by 1,000 tons per year.
"Reducing the use of plastic materials to fight climate change is one of OB's most important agenda currently," an official of Oriental Brewery stated. "Recycling PET bottles used for our beer products is not an easy task, but something that we must do. We are working to recycle paper materials used for our product labels as well."
E-Mart is also making an effort to substitute its packaging with greener options. In fact, it has already changed the packages of its PEACOCK's home meal replacement (HMR) products. The convenience store chain is now using one made with 50% recycled raw materials and biodegradable bamboo and sugar cane.
Finally, aside from retailers in South Korea, major manufacturers are also aiming to become environmentally friendly. In April, LG Chem teamed up with CJ Logistics to recycle packagings that have been discarded. Aju Business Daily reported that the former signed a deal with the latter to reuse plastic waste.
Photo: Chris Barbalis/Unsplash
