CJ Freshway Promotes Paper Rice Sack Upcycling with Social Enterprise 'Lovely Paper'

At the CJ Freshway headquarters in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Ki Woo-jin, CEO of Lovely Paper (left), and Choi Seok-jung, Head of Management Support at CJ Freshway, are taking a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement.

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Eun-mo] CJ Freshway announced on the 27th that it has signed a business agreement with the social enterprise Lovely Paper to “promote resource upcycling and create jobs for the elderly.” Lovely Paper is a senior-friendly and eco-friendly social enterprise that provides stable jobs to elderly paper collectors and upcycles waste resources.

CJ Freshway supplies paper rice sacks discarded from group catering sites to Lovely Paper, which then turns them into paper fabric to produce and sell fashion bags. So far, 1,100 bags have been produced from 1,470 paper rice sacks provided by CJ Freshway. This process has also created jobs for the elderly involved in fabric production. Most of the proceeds from bag sales are paid as wages to the elderly workers.

This business agreement was promoted as part of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management to establish a new resource circulation system by utilizing paper rice sacks that are usually discarded as general waste at group catering sites. While reviewing the recyclability of paper rice sacks generated daily at group catering sites, CJ Freshway sympathized with Lovely Paper’s purpose of contributing to resource upcycling and job creation for the elderly and decided to actively cooperate.

CJ Freshway is currently regularly collecting rice sacks from Severance Hospital, CJ Freshway headquarters’ Greenteria, and plans to gradually expand collection sites such as Incheon St. Mary’s Hospital to create a virtuous cycle where CJ Freshway and its clients participate in resource upcycling. Last year, CJ Freshway became the first domestic company to switch all ice packs used for delivery to reusable products and continued resource circulation activities by donating employee items to social enterprises for resale.

Choi Seok-jung, Head of Management Support at CJ Freshway, said, “We place great significance on having created a sustainable resource circulation chain together with clients such as group catering sites and food service companies,” adding, “We will accelerate efforts to breathe new life into discarded resources through this business agreement and introduce eco-friendly elements across all business areas to realize ESG values.”