Yuhan-Kimberly and Samsung Culture Foundation Sign MOU to Establish Hand Towel Resource Circulation System

Expected to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 5.8 Tons

Yuhan-Kimberly announced on the 24th that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Samsung Foundation of Culture to establish a resource circulation system for hand towels.

At the hand towel resource circulation business agreement ceremony held at the Leeum Museum of Art on the 23rd, Jeon Yangsuk, Head of the Sustainable Management Center at Yuhan-Kimberly (left), and Ryu Munhyung, CEO of the Samsung Foundation of Culture (right), are taking a commemorative photo. Photo by Yuhan-Kimberly

At the MOU signing ceremony held at the Leeum Museum of Art in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, executives including Jeon Yang-sook, Head of Yuhan-Kimberly’s Sustainability Management Center, and Ryu Moon-hyung, CEO of the Samsung Foundation of Culture, pledged to cooperate in practicing ESG management through the BI:CYCLE hand towel resource circulation campaign. Under this MOU, hand towels used at the Leeum Museum of Art and Hoam Art Museum will be separately collected and recycled as raw materials for hand towel manufacturing. This establishes a resource circulation system covering raw materials, manufacturing, consumption, and recycling.

The Samsung Foundation of Culture is the first in the domestic museum industry to participate in a hand towel recycling project. In particular, since the combined annual visitors to the Leeum Museum of Art and Hoam Art Museum operated by the Samsung Foundation of Culture reached approximately 620,000 last year, it is expected to serve as an opportunity to broadly spread social consensus and awareness of the climate crisis. Yuhan-Kimberly estimates that through establishing the hand towel resource circulation system with the Samsung Foundation of Culture, about 5.6 tons of hand towels will be recycled annually, resulting in an estimated reduction of approximately 5.8 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

CEO Ryu said, "Since introducing ESG management in 2021, we have been implementing various methods to reduce carbon emissions, such as producing temporary exhibition walls with reusable modular partitions to minimize waste." He added, "Through participating in the hand towel recycling project, we will strive to continuously expand actions for sustainable development in our society."

Former Head of the Sustainability Management Center Jeon said, "We are honored to collaborate with the Samsung Foundation of Culture, which has been proactively working to expand a sustainable industrial ecosystem." She explained, "We will work together with various stakeholders to lead the transition toward social and environmental sustainability."