[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] SK Telecom announced on the 8th that at the ‘ha:bit eco alliance’ agreement ceremony held at the SK Seorin Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, representatives of the 3rd phase member companies gathered and agreed to actively work to revitalize the campaign.
The ‘ha:bit eco alliance’ was launched at the end of 2020 with the participation of 23 organizations and companies including the Ministry of Environment, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Starbucks Korea, Jeju Free International City Development Center, and Happy Connect. The goal is to reduce the use of disposable plastics. At the end of 2021, 24 additional organizations joined, including Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, the Embassy of Sweden in Korea, Kyobo Life Insurance, and GS Caltex.
In this 3rd phase, organizations such as the Resource Circulation Social Solidarity, Korea Regional Self-Support Center Association, Korea Environment Corporation, Hana Bank, Jeju Tourism Organization, and Korea Southern Power Co. are participating. The ‘ha:bit eco alliance’ has grown into a public-private cooperation project with a cumulative participation of 90 organizations and companies, becoming the largest public-private consultative body in the environmental sector in Korea.
Japan’s SoftBank Joins as First Global Member Company
In particular, since the announcement of the ban on the use of disposable items (such as plastic cups) in food service establishments and stores in April last year, the use of reusable cups has greatly increased, giving momentum to the circulation of reusable cups through the ‘Happy Ha:bit’ campaign.
Through the campaign, the ‘ha:bit eco alliance’ achieved a reduction of approximately 6.8 million disposable plastic cups nationwide by the end of January this year. The system involves customers paying a deposit of 1,000 won when purchasing a beverage at a store, receiving the drink in a reusable cup, and then returning the cup via an unmanned reusable cup return machine to get their deposit refunded. The reusable cups are washed and reused by a service-specialized operator equipped with state-of-the-art facilities under strict standards.
SKT has applied Vision AI technology to the system to support the unmanned return machines in accurately identifying and accepting reusable cups. They have established and operate core infrastructure such as the environmental protection service app ‘Happy Ha:bit Application’.
Global companies have also joined the campaign’s purpose of solving environmental problems using AI and big data. Japan’s SoftBank has agreed to strengthen ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) cooperation with SKT and work together to solve environmental and social challenges through participation in the ‘ha:bit eco alliance’.
Starting with SoftBank, SKT plans to continue efforts to collaborate with various global companies interested in solving social issues based on ICT.
Expansion of Usage and Distribution of Reusable Delivery Containers
As the number of regions and organizations participating in the ‘Happy Ha:bit’ campaign increases, SKT is strengthening cooperation at the ‘ha:bit eco alliance’ level for quantitative and qualitative growth and is exploring ways to expand campaigns promoting the use of reusable packaging containers.
Additionally, through logistics and washing cooperation among member companies such as the Korea Regional Self-Support Center Association, SKT is taking the lead in creating jobs in resource circulation.
SKT plans to diversify the ‘Happy Ha:bit’ campaign so that it can be utilized in more corporate cafeterias and multi-use facilities, and also to promote the distribution of reusable containers applicable to food packaging and delivery containers.
The ‘Happy Ha:bit’ campaign encourages the use of reusable cups with support from the Ministry of Environment and Korea Environment Corporation. Customers who join the Carbon Neutral Points Green Life Practice site can receive an additional 300 carbon neutral practice points per reusable cup when their deposit is refunded as ‘Happy Ha:bit’ points.
Park Yong-joo, SK Telecom’s ESG officer, stated, “As social consensus on the use of reusable containers expands, we will make this year a leap forward for the Happy Ha:bit campaign by actively expanding business areas and strengthening return infrastructure.”
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