‘Phasing Out Single-Use Products’: Samsung, Hyundai, and Other Major Corporations in Chungnam Join Effort

Major corporations such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Company have also agreed to participate in Chungnam Province's policy to eliminate single-use products.

On the 19th, Kim Tae-heum, Governor of Chungnam Province, and representatives from 14 companies took a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement to reduce single-use products at the Chungnam Provincial Office. Photo by Chungnam Province

On the 19th, Chungnam Province announced that it signed a business agreement to reduce single-use products with 14 major corporate sites located in the region, including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Company.

The agreement, part of the province-wide carbon neutrality practice and dissemination conference, was signed with participants including Dongkuk Steel Dangjin Plant, Samsung Display, Samsung SDI, Samsung Electronics Onyang and Cheonan plants, Chong Kun Dang, KG Steel Dangjin Plant, Korea East-West Power Dangjin Power Headquarters, Korea Western Power Taean Power Headquarters, Korea Midland Power Boryeong Power Headquarters, GM Korea Boryeong Plant, Hyundai Oilbank, Hyundai Motor Company Asan Plant, Hyundai Steel, and Haitai Cheonan Plant.

According to the agreement, participating companies will normalize the use of reusable products instead of single-use items and expand the use of reusable products in cafeterias, stores, and coffee shops.

Additionally, the agreement includes mutual cooperation to activate the circular economy and ESG management through separate waste collection and recycling, as well as participation in education and promotion for employees and province-wide publicity and campaigns.

Chungnam Province expects the agreement to enhance its image as a leader in transitioning to a plastic-free society and to bring effects such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions through plastic reduction.

Earlier, on June 16, Chungnam Province announced the ‘Plan for Public Institution Plastic-Free Transition and Province-wide Dissemination’ through the ‘Clean Government Building Without Single-Use Products’ campaign. Starting June 19, the province has been enforcing bans on bringing and carrying single-use cups into the Chungnam Provincial Government building, prohibiting the use of single-use products in offices and meeting rooms, and mandating the use of reusable products.

Currently, the Chungnam Provincial Council, direct agencies and offices under Chungnam Province, public institutions under Chungnam Province, Chungnam Office of Education, and Chungnam Provincial Police Agency have consecutively expressed their intention to join the ‘single-use product elimination’ movement and signed business agreements.

As a result, the amount of plastic waste generated within the Chungnam Provincial Government building sharply decreased from 206.4㎥ between January and October 2022 to 98.2㎥ during the same period this year, a 52.4% reduction. This is equivalent to reducing 541,000 paper cups and 24,453 kg of greenhouse gases.

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Building on this momentum, Chungnam Province plans to fully revise the ‘Chungnam Province Single-Use Product Reduction Promotion Ordinance’ next year. It will also continue activities to spread and establish a province-wide culture of plastic reduction and hold a province-wide plastic-free transition proclamation ceremony next year.

Kim Tae-heum, Governor of Chungnam Province, said, “Our campaign to eliminate single-use products is a ‘small but significant practice.’ If this movement spreads from one person to 2.2 million residents and further to 50 million citizens, a greater change can be achieved.”