Gyeonggi Province Intensifies Crackdown on 'Excessive Packaging' Ahead of Seollal Holiday

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is launching an intensive crackdown on excessive packaging by large retailers ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 12th that from the 13th to the 23rd of this month, it will conduct an intensive inspection focusing on large retailers in 31 cities and counties within the province.

This inspection was planned to prevent resource waste and unnecessary waste generation caused by 'excessive packaging' and to preemptively block deceptive practices against consumers.

During this inspection, the province will focus on primary food products such as fruits and fish, which see concentrated sales during the holiday, as well as gift sets like canned goods and alcoholic beverages, checking whether the number of packaging layers is excessive or if the packaging is disproportionately large compared to the size of the product.

Additionally, prior publicity about the intensive crackdown on excessive packaging will be conducted, and administrative actions will be taken in case of violations.

Im Yang-seon, head of the Resource Circulation Division of the province, emphasized, "We are conducting this intensive crackdown with the hope that the holiday will be warm with practical gifts rather than flashy outer packaging. We will continue to make various efforts to establish an eco-friendly consumption culture."

The current "Regulations on Standards for Packaging Materials and Methods of Products" stipulate that packaging should be done within two layers and the packaging space ratio should be 35% or less. Violations result in fines of 1 million KRW for the first offense, 2 million KRW for the second, and 3 million KRW for the third.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.