- GL Plus Co., Ltd. and TerraBio Co., Ltd. Sign Business Agreement for Joint Food Waste Recycling Project
- Preventing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Food Waste and Recycling into Compost and Eco-friendly Soil Conditioners
According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from power plants fueled by oil and coal, vehicle exhaust, and factory smoke accounts for about 88% of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Methane gas (CH4) is another greenhouse gas comparable to carbon dioxide. Methane, which has 23 times the impact on the greenhouse effect compared to carbon dioxide, is mainly produced when organic matter such as food waste and livestock manure decomposes. According to academic research, approximately 1.5 tons of methane gas are generated when one ton of food waste is landfilled or left untreated.
According to the Ministry of Environment's Resource Circulation Information System, the amount of food waste generated domestically in one year reached about 4.7 million tons as of 2020. Voices calling for more environmentally friendly methods of food waste treatment are growing not only among related organizations and companies but also within households. The food waste treatment device market is expected to grow from about 200 billion KRW in 2021 to 1 trillion KRW in 2023, with the rapid increase in the distribution of microbial elimination-type food waste treatment devices being a representative example.
On the 17th, GL Plus Co., Ltd., a leading company in microbial elimination-type food waste treatment devices, and Terabio Co., Ltd. signed a business agreement at Terabio’s headquarters in Ulsan to share their technological expertise and jointly establish an advanced food waste resource circulation system, known as the ‘resource circulation system.’
The resource circulation system aims to convert over 95% of food waste residues eliminated through microbes into resources such as compost and eco-friendly soil conditioners, as well as utilize them as feed for black soldier fly larvae, a representative insect for environmental improvement. This feed can then be used as eco-friendly feed in poultry farms, aquaculture farms, and other facilities, thereby achieving near-perfect resource recycling of food waste.
Through this agreement, the two companies plan to combine their efforts in all areas of business, including new product development, microbial research, resource recycling technology development, and domestic and international market expansion, which is expected to generate significant synergistic effects.
According to Kim Wan-jae, CEO of GL Plus, “The microbial research and efforts to promote eco-friendly food waste treatment devices that GL Plus has pursued so far will be reborn as an eco-friendly resource circulation system by combining with the know-how possessed by Terabio, transforming the business beyond a simple food waste treatment device.”
Additionally, No Jun-hyuk, CEO of Terabio, stated, “Terabio has continuously worked on developing and distributing large-scale food waste treatment devices as well as efforts to recycle byproducts. We hope that our efforts, combined with the resource circulation system being established by GL Plus, will not only expand the distribution of microbial elimination-type food waste treatment devices but also become a new model for eco-friendly business.”
GL Plus, a leader in the household food waste treatment device sector, and Terabio, a leader in large-scale business food waste treatment devices, will jointly pursue domestic and overseas market expansion through this business cooperation. This collaboration is expected to contribute significantly not only to the growth of both companies but also to the realization of the government’s ‘2050 Carbon Neutrality’ initiative.
Meanwhile, GL Plus was selected as a participating company in the energy and environment economic delegation during President Yoon Seok-yeol’s visit to the UAE in January. Having already entered markets in six Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia and the European market, GL Plus is expected to accelerate its expansion into European and Asian markets following this business agreement.
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