[Exclusive] Jeju Soju Pureunbam Receives Korea's First 'Top Grade Packaging' Certification from Ministry of Environment

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[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Jeju Soju Pureunbam of Shinsegae Group has become the first product in Korea to receive the 'Highest Grade' for packaging materials. It is the first product in Korea to receive the highest grade since the revision of the Resource Recycling Act was implemented. Even before the revision, no domestic company had received the highest grade.

According to the Ministry of Environment and Shinsegae Group on the 29th, Jeju Soju collaborated with 'Namyang Magic,' which holds a patent for the highest grade packaging labeling, to improve the 'Pureunbam 640㎖ PET container' to meet the highest grade standards. As a result, it received the highest grade in the final evaluation of packaging material structure by the Korea Environment Corporation of the Ministry of Environment on the 15th. In particular, it has attracted industry attention as the first product to receive the highest grade after the Resource Recycling Act revision was implemented on the 25th.

The revised Resource Recycling Act subdivides the current standard, which classifies packaging materials into three grades based on recyclability, into four grades: highest, excellent, normal, and difficult, according to ease of recycling. Products classified as 'difficult' must pay an environmental burden charge of up to 30%. The act is implemented with the purpose of producing packaging materials that are easy to recycle from the design stage and gradually phasing out packaging materials that are difficult to recycle.

The PET product of Jeju Soju applied a label adhesive area of 0.3%, which is lower than the Ministry of Environment's standard of 0.5%, allowing it to easily detach under wind separators and at 50 degrees Celsius heat. Additionally, the label was changed from a density above 1, which caused problems in the existing PET bottle recycling process, to a label with a density below 1, making it easier to float in the caustic soda used in the recycling process and thus easier to sort. An eco-tab was created on the adhesive surface to allow customers to easily separate the label. Jeju Soju expects that this will increase resource circulation rates by increasing wind sorting volume, reducing the use of heat alkali water, and cutting water heating energy by more than 50% during the recycling process.

A Shinsegae Group official said, "In addition to the 640㎖ PET product, Jeju Soju plans to receive the highest grade for five other PET products (200㎖, 400㎖, 1800㎖, 4.5ℓ, 10.5ℓ) soon," adding, "We plan to launch products with highest grade containers in February." Since the 640㎖ PET product received the highest grade, it is expected that other volume products of Jeju Soju Pureunbam can also easily receive the same grade by applying the same technology. Meanwhile, Jeju Soju is also planning to release a glass bottle product, Miniature (80㎖), which has been improved in material structure to meet the Ministry of Environment standards and received an excellent grade.