Making Volunteer Vests from 10 Used PET Bottles

Na Kyung-soo, President of SK Comprehensive Chemical, is examining a volunteer vest made by upcycling waste plastic at the SK Seorin Building on the 29th of last month. Photo by SK Innovation

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] SK Innovation announced on the 2nd that it has replaced the volunteer activity vests worn by employees with eco-friendly products made from recycled plastic. Each eco-friendly volunteer vest is made from fabric recycled from ten 500ml plastic bottles.

The company plans to replace all volunteer vests with eco-friendly ones this year and distribute them to employees. This is expected to recycle tens of thousands of discarded PET bottles. In the future, work uniforms and other apparel will also be produced using the same method. Furthermore, the company intends to promote this initiative to group affiliates and partner companies. It will also link this effort with the recycling business of its subsidiary, SK General Chemical.

The eco-friendly vests are produced by Rightroot, a social startup supported by SK Innovation through its Environmental Social Biz contest. This company has newly developed functional materials using waste separators from SK IE Technology and is preparing to launch various products in the first half of the year.