Han Jeong-ae, Minister of Environment, "Measures to Increase Transparent PET Bottle Collection Rate to Be Prepared"

Visit to 'TK Chemical Factory' Producing Recycled PET Fabric

Support Measures for Separate Disposal This Month
Considering Various Methods Such as 'Mandatory Recycling and Deposit System'

Minister of Environment Han Jeong-ae (first from the left) is listening to an explanation about the PET bottle recycling clothing production process during a visit to the TK Chemical polyester factory located in Chilgok-gun, Gyeongbuk, on the afternoon of the 4th.

[Chilgok (Gyeongbuk) = Asia Economy, Reporter Joo Sang-don] "Clean PET bottles need to be collected to be recycled in various ways, but unfortunately, we are currently importing a lot from Japan. We will prepare and implement measures this month to increase the separate disposal and collection rate of transparent PET bottles."

On the 4th, Minister of Environment Han Jeong-ae visited the TK Chemical polyester factory, which produces various fabrics from recycled PET, as her second field visit since taking office, and made this promise after meeting with related company officials.

Minister Han said, "After the Lunar New Year holiday, I plan to visit transparent PET bottle collection sites," adding, "The Ministry of Environment will take measures in February to help this system settle quickly, such as distributing related materials or dispatching personnel to assist with the sorting work."

The reason Minister Han is trying to increase the collection rate of transparent PET bottles is that PET bottles must be collected in a clean state to be recycled into fabrics or various containers. To this end, since the end of last year, the Ministry of Environment has been requiring apartment complexes to separately collect and dispose of transparent PET bottles, but this is still not being properly followed. Because of this, most PET bottles that can be made into high-quality raw materials are still being imported from Japan.

The industry is already making efforts to increase the recycling rate of transparent PET bottles. Sparkle, a bottled water producer that Minister Han met during this field visit, is a representative example. Since November 2019, Sparkle has been collecting used PET bottles when delivering bottled water. Since December last year, they have introduced label-free bottled water and currently ship about 10% of their products as no-label items. The waste PET bottles collected by Sparkle are made into flakes by Doosan E&T, and TK Chemical uses these as raw materials to produce recycled containers and recycled yarn. Using the recycled yarn produced here, Black Yak has been manufacturing and selling summer T-shirts and jackets since July last year. Products made from recycled yarn account for about 30% of their total clothing.

Minister Han said, "From the perspective of systematically promoting resource circulation, the government announced a plastic reduction policy for household waste at the end of last year," adding, "To increase the PET recycling rate, we will consider various options such as mandating recycling like in Europe or using a deposit system for PET bottles like in Germany."