Yeongdeungpo-gu Signs PET Bottle Recycling Agreement with Seoul City and Hyosung TNC... Producing Recycled Products from Transparent PET Bottles... Establishing a Resource Circular Economy Structure
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Yeongdeungpo-gu (District Mayor Chae Hyun-il) signed a business agreement on the 28th with Seoul City and Hyosung TNC Co., Ltd. to expand high-quality recycling of transparent PET bottles.
This agreement was made with Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul City, and two autonomous districts (Geumcheon-gu, Gangnam-gu), and Hyosung TNC Co., Ltd. as participating parties.
Hyosung TNC, a chemical fiber manufacturing company, supplies yarn to sports and outdoor brands such as The North Face, Kolon, Patagonia, Nike, and Adidas, holding a 90% market share in the domestic transparent PET bottle recycled yarn sector.
Through this agreement, Seoul City will oversee the separate collection policy for transparent PET bottles and prepare public procurement plans for recycled products; the three autonomous districts including Yeongdeungpo-gu will focus on the phased establishment of the discharge, collection, and sorting system and securing volume; and Hyosung TNC will produce yarn recycled from transparent PET bottles.
Accordingly, starting this year, the district plans to actively participate in the production of recycled products by supplying all transparent PET bottles collected from the transparent PET bottle-to-volume-based waste bag exchange project to Hyosung TNC’s partner companies.
Previously, to increase resource recycling rates and reduce dependence on imported discarded PET bottles, the district established a plan for separate collection of waste vinyl and transparent PET bottles in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and Seoul City from January last year, promoting it online and offline since February, and mandating it for multi-family housing from December 25.
Since September last year, the district has actively participated in the separate collection of transparent PET bottles by starting the “Transparent PET Bottle-to-Volume-Based Waste Bag Exchange Project,” where residents can exchange 30 transparent PET bottles every Thursday at the local community center for one 10-liter volume-based waste bag.
The transparent PET bottles discharged by residents go through sorting, crushing, washing, and drying processes, then are processed into flakes and chips and reborn as polyester yarn called Regen.
This material is used to make various products such as clothing, bags, and shoes.
Seoul City created a branding logo called Regen Seoul to encourage residents to take pride in the resource circulation project and voluntarily participate, and the district plans to join in public procurement of transparent PET bottle recycled products to promote the resource circulation economy.
Chae Hyun-il, Mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, said, “Through this transparent PET bottle recycling business agreement, we will strive to create a pleasant and sustainable urban environment,” and added, “We ask for the interest and participation of residents in the resource recycling project to pass on a clean environment to future generations.”
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