Campaign to Reduce Single-Use Items, Promote Washing Recyclables, and Prevent Food Waste
Kim Beom-jun, CEO of Woowa Brothers (right), and Kim Mi-hwa, Chairperson of the Resource Circulation Alliance, are posing for a commemorative photo after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on "Reducing Single-Use Plastics and Improving Food Culture" at the Woowa Brothers headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on the 23rd.
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baedal Minjok (hereinafter Baemin), announced on the 24th that it has signed a business agreement (MOU) with the nonprofit organization Resource Circulation Social Solidarity (Chairperson Kim Mi-hwa) to reduce single-use plastics and improve food culture. The signing ceremony held on the 23rd at Woowa Brothers headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul, was attended by Kim Mi-hwa, Chairperson of Resource Circulation Social Solidarity, and Kim Beom-jun, CEO of Woowa Brothers, among others.
According to this agreement, both parties will jointly promote eco-friendly campaigns such as ▲suppressing the use of single-use plastics ▲proper washing and separate disposal of recyclables ▲not leaving food waste. Woowa Brothers plans to carry out various eco-friendly campaigns that encourage user participation through the Baemin platform, while Resource Circulation Social Solidarity will provide consultation and monitoring activities for these campaigns.
Earlier, Baemin introduced the 'Use Less Disposable Items' option in April last year, allowing customers to directly choose whether to receive single-use spoons, forks, and other utensils. As of the 9th of this month, the cumulative number of users who selected this option exceeded 10 million, and the cumulative number of orders applying this option surpassed 100 million.
A representative of Resource Circulation Social Solidarity stated, "When converting the cumulative number of users and orders who chose Baemin's single-use item reduction option from April last year to September this year into socio-economic costs, it was estimated to be equivalent to about 15.3 billion KRW in small business owners' single-use item purchase costs and about 3.2 billion KRW in waste disposal costs," adding, "This is an environmental effect similar to planting 1.85 million pine trees."
In addition, Baemin uses eco-friendly bags made primarily from corn starch that naturally decompose for deliveries of 'B Mart,' a micro-quantity delivery service. The 'Baemin Sanghoe,' a specialized shopping mall for self-employed business owners, implements various eco-friendly policies such as offering eco-friendly delivery containers at discounted prices.
CEO Kim Beom-jun said, "Through this cooperation with Resource Circulation Social Solidarity, we plan to carry out environmental protection activities that app users can naturally practice in their daily lives," and added, "As an industry-leading company, we will take the lead in practicing environmental protection with a sense of social responsibility."
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