Lotte Mart to Reduce Vinyl and Plastic by 50% by 2025

Solar power facility installed at Lotte Mart Pyeongtaek branch. (Photo by Lotte Mart)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Lotte Mart is embarking on building an eco-friendly store model.

On the 8th, Lotte Mart announced that it plans to implement three key tasks through the 'Resource Circulation Project.' This is part of the 'Resource Circulation Project' announced by Lotte Group in February.

First, Lotte Mart plans to reduce the use of vinyl and plastic by 50% by 2025. They will establish annual sequential reduction targets and set seven eco-friendly packaging guidelines when producing private brand (PB) products. The seven eco-friendly packaging guidelines include 'use of removable stickers,' 'application of eco-friendly perforation lines,' 'use of reusable packaging materials,' and 'replacement with eco-friendly materials.'

To raise awareness and secure the ability to implement these practices among product planners, environment will be incorporated as a core task alongside sales and profits and reflected in performance evaluations. Additionally, phased reductions will be carried out to achieve zero use of plastic bags in stores. In fact, in 2019, Lotte Mart reduced the use of roll bags by more than 60% compared to 2018.

Eco-friendly consumption is also accelerating. Lotte Mart, together with Lotte Chilsung, launched the 'Isis 8.0 Eco' product without vinyl labels and created a Green Zone to encourage eco-friendly consumption.

Moreover, Lotte Mart plans to reduce food waste in stores by 30% by 2025. To reduce food waste, a company-wide campaign will be conducted, daily measurement of food waste generation will be implemented, and sales times close to store closing hours will be significantly advanced to provide customers with more opportunities to purchase products at discounted prices.

Finally, Lotte Mart is working on building eco-friendly green stores by expanding renewable energy and electric vehicle infrastructure. Currently, solar power generation facilities have been installed on the rooftops of 39 stores, producing 4.6 million kW annually?enough electricity to supply 1,600 households for one year?and this will be expanded to 60 stores by 2021.

Lotte Mart is enhancing customer convenience through electric vehicle charging infrastructure installed at 120 stores while striving to expand the electric vehicle base. It operates 100 stores certified as 'Green Stores' by the Ministry of Environment, the largest number among major retailers.

In particular, a new-concept charging station that charges electric vehicles using solar power generated by rooftop solar power facilities has been installed and is operating at the Yeongdeungpo store rooftop. Operating a solar-powered electric vehicle charging station is cheaper than general charging stations. It also saves 38 million KRW annually by reducing peak power demand. This corresponds to a reduction of 348 kg of CO2 emissions per day, totaling 127,195 kg annually.

Jung Wonheon, Compliance Management Director at Lotte Mart, said, “We plan to create stores where a small daily eco-friendly practice, ‘1 Day 1 Green,’ is possible,” adding, “We will strive to create eco-friendly green stores where customers visiting the stores can naturally participate in eco-friendly activities.”

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