Kolon Initiates Downcycling of Used Masks

Honorary Chairman Lee Woong-yeol Joins the 'Gogo Challenge'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Kolon Group is participating in the eco-friendly campaign 'Go Go Challenge' and recycling disposable masks that are being discarded.

The Go Go Challenge is a campaign to reduce plastic use in daily life, launched in January this year under the Ministry of Environment. Kolon has adopted the slogan "Collect disposable masks (Go), protect the Earth's environment through downcycling (Go)" and decided to implement it company-wide.

Currently, with the ongoing COVID-19 situation, 20 million disposable masks are discarded daily, but there are no guidelines on disposal methods, nor any discussions on recycling. Kolon has focused on the fact that masks, which take 450 years to decompose, are being recklessly discarded, and has been seeking a win-win solution that considers the environment and creates new value through downcycling.

Downcycling refers to reprocessing materials into different forms through mechanical and chemical processes. By pyrolyzing and melting waste masks, they can be turned into functional chemical additives in the form of polypropylene (PP) wax, which can be used in various industrial fields. Kolon plans to continuously strive to find downcycling methods that can resource waste masks in diverse ways.

Kolon will first install waste mask collection boxes at major business sites and collect masks used by employees for recycling. Employees only need to remove the mask's accessories, such as the nose wire and ear loops, place them in designated bags, and put them into the collection boxes, making participation easy for everyone. Kolon plans to gradually expand the scope and regions of this initiative.

Kolon's participation in this campaign was realized after Honorary Chairman Lee Woong-yeol of Kolon Group, nominated by SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho, suggested that if the company also joined, it would further enhance the campaign's positive impact.

Honorary Chairman Lee designated Yoo Ja-eun, Chairperson of Konkuk University Foundation, which is the first domestic university to establish an 'ESG Committee' and is leading social responsibility efforts, as the next relay participant.