"Reduce Plastic Waste Emissions" Food Service Industry Accelerates Use of Eco-Friendly Materials

Shinsegae Food Imports and Sells Bottled Water in Eco-Friendly Containers
Ourhome Introduces Biodegradable Plastic Bags
McDonald's, Lotte Confectionery, and Others Expand Efforts for Sustainability

Just Water imported and sold by Shinsegae Food

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] The food and dining industry is accelerating the development and use of packaging made from eco-friendly materials. This move comes in response to the social concerns over the surge in plastic waste caused by the increase in consumers preferring delivery and takeout food amid the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

On the 2nd, Shinsegae Food announced that it recently started importing the water brand "Just Water" from the startup Just Goods and began selling it on SSG.com. Just Water is a brand jointly established by the famous domestic actor Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith. It uses eco-friendly containers composed of 54% paper, 28% plant-based plastic, 15% conventional plastic, and 3% aluminum. A notable feature is that the carbon emissions generated during the production of these containers are 74% less than those of average-weight PET bottles.

Last September, Chung Yong-jin, Vice Chairman of Shinsegae, posted a photo of Just Water on his Instagram, announcing its import to Korea. A Shinsegae Food official stated, "We are currently importing and selling some Just Water products as a test in the domestic market, and plan to start full-scale sales from next year."

Ourhome is making efforts to introduce eco-friendly vinyl packaging materials.

Ourhome introduced biodegradable plastic bags to over 800 stores nationwide starting from the 19th of last month. Ourhome's eco-friendly plastic packaging is made using 'biodegradable raw material (EL724)' and is a 100% naturally decomposable eco-friendly material. When buried, it completely decomposes into water and carbon dioxide within 180 days, allowing it to be disposed of as regular waste rather than recyclable waste in ordinary households. This packaging has received certification from the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute for reducing local environmental pollution and harmful substances.

An Ourhome representative said, "With the recent expansion of untact (contactless) consumption, the sales of takeout products at Ourhome stores have rapidly increased, leading to a rise in the use of disposable packaging. In response to growing social interest in environmental issues, we introduced new packaging materials to participate in establishing an eco-friendly consumption culture, and we will continue to explore various ways to enhance eco-friendly values across all business areas."

McDonald's has launched a customer participation campaign to reduce the use of plastic straws.

Korea McDonald's has been providing a strawless drink lid called 'Ttukkeongi' at all stores nationwide since the 12th of last month. This is the first case in the QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) industry to reduce the use of plastic straws.

McDonald's developed Ttukkeongi as a cute character so that customers of all ages can use it easily and enjoyably. As the use of Ttukkeongi spreads, McDonald's plans to gradually reduce the use of plastic straws and will provide them only upon customer request starting next year. Beginning with this, McDonald's aims to switch plastic packaging materials such as plastic bags, forks, and knives to packaging made from recyclable, recycled, or certified raw materials by 2025.

Lotte Confectionery has decided to apply green-certified packaging to its flagship product, Margaret. Green-certified packaging is a packaging technique certified by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Green Certification Office for green technology, using eco-friendly ethanol and related food packaging manufacturing technologies that replace environmentally toxic substances and reduce harmfulness.

To expand eco-friendly packaging, Lotte Confectionery has been collaborating with the Packaging Research Team at the Central Research Institute and Lotte Aluminum since last year to develop the technology. After about a year of research, they jointly developed the technology and obtained certification in mid-July. The certified technology will be expanded to other representative Lotte Confectionery products such as Pepero and Mon Cher.

Additionally, Lotte Confectionery recently completed ink reduction work on 10 types of chewing gum, including Juicy Fresh, Watta, and Hurabono, by reducing the printing ink density on gum paper by about half. Beyond gum, since last year, they have been continuously working on replacing and reducing harmful solvents in about 160 products (based on SKU), including Pepero, Custard, Choco Pie, and Mon Cher. This effort is expected to reduce the annual use of ink and solvents by approximately 405 tons, and the amount of solvents replaced by eco-friendly inks is also expected to exceed 340 tons annually.

Currently, about 130 products have applied the 'Smart Recycle' packaging, one of the eco-friendly projects. Smart Recycle is a packaging method improved to make it easy to tear and fold packaging materials for convenient recycling. A Lotte Confectionery official stated, "We plan to continue practicing environmental management through ongoing eco-friendly packaging activities in the future."