- Sansu Beverage Subsidiary EPS Launches Bottled Water Product Using CR-PET
- First Domestic Case... Expected to Boost 'Bottle to Bottle' Recycling of PET Bottles
Eco-friendly specialist company Sansu Beverage Co., Ltd. is launching 're:I’m eco,' a bottled water product applying 'chemically recycled PET' (CR-PET) for the first time in the domestic bottled water industry.
Since 2020, Sansu Beverage has been leading not only the bottled water industry but also the domestic eco-friendly and bioplastic trends by consecutively releasing bottled water products using Bio-PET and biodegradable plastic (PLA) containers.
Additionally, through its logistics system, Sansu Beverage operates a 'collection system' that retrieves empty bottles of its bottled water products and recycles them into regenerated yarn in collaboration with BYN Black Yak. The company also continues to collaborate with its subsidiary Eco Package Solution (EPS) to develop physical and chemical recycling technologies and produce recycled raw materials.
In December last year, Sansu Beverage succeeded in developing chemically recycled PET (CR-PET) containers together with EPS. Subsequently, it conducted joint R&D for mass production of CR-PET containers with member companies of the Green Plastic Alliance, a community of eco-friendly new material research and usage companies. As a result, they launched re:I’m eco, the first bottled water in Korea to apply CR-PET.
CR-PET is an eco-friendly package that can reduce negative environmental impacts by ensuring the quality and safety of plastic products and being a material that can be recycled repeatedly.
The CR-PET applied to re:I’m eco utilizes depolymerization technology that breaks down collected plastics back into pure raw materials to manufacture plastics. This is called chemical recycling, which converts plastics back to the raw material stage used in initial production through pyrolysis and chemical processes, allowing impurities to be refined and removed at this stage.
Moreover, since it is remanufactured through the same polymerization process as new production, it has the advantage of producing cleaner and more uniform plastic quality compared to conventional physical recycling. This helps reduce the use of new plastics and contributes significantly to the circular economy.
The packaging of re:I’m eco also uses recycled plastics. The shrink film used as the outer packaging of re:I’m eco applies shrink film containing 30% recycled plastic (post-consumer recycled, PCR) resin supplied by Homyeong Chemical Industry, a member company of the Green Plastic Alliance.
Sansu Beverage emphasized that the launch of re:I’m eco holds great significance as it marks the starting point of the nation's first 'bottle-to-bottle' recycling transformation. 'Bottle-to-bottle' means recycling empty bottles of its own products directly collected to make bottles for its products again. Sansu Beverage plans to release additional related products in the first half of this year.
Kim Ji-hoon, CEO of Sansu Beverage, stated, "We plan to accelerate efforts with EPS and Green Plastic Alliance member companies to establish an integrated resource circulation system for a circular economy. We will design precise recycling goals and timelines for resources directly collected by Sansu, and through data management, build systems for production, distribution, collection and management, recycling, and reproduction to recycle waste resources without any discarded plastics, leading the realization of carbon neutrality."
He added, "Through our own online mall, we support diverse and broad choices for consumers' eco-friendly consumption lifestyles, and we will continue technological development for transparent PET bottle resource circulation and chemical recycling with our subsidiary EPS to become a company contributing to the domestic circular economy."
Meanwhile, re:I’m eco will be available for sale starting next week through Sansu Beverage’s regular delivery service. More detailed information can be found on Sansu Beverage’s own mall, AM Eco Mall.
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