GS Retail's Campaign to Promote 'Transparent PET Bottle Separate Disposal'

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] GS Retail is uniting its entire capabilities to engage in eco-friendly management.

GS Retail has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment and the Korea Packaging Recycling Cooperative to launch a campaign promoting 'separate disposal of transparent PET bottles' starting from the 25th.

Separate disposal of transparent PET bottles involves removing labels (vinyl) and separating them from colored plastics when disposing of transparent waste PET bottles that come from drinking water and beverages. This is an essential activity for resource recycling. The importance of separate disposal of transparent PET bottles has increased as mandatory separate disposal of transparent PET bottles will be enforced in public housing nationwide starting on the 25th.

GS Retail will attach notices containing information about the implementation of separate disposal of transparent PET bottles and the correct disposal methods to over 15,000 offline platforms nationwide, including convenience store GS25 and supermarket GS The Fresh. Focusing on directly managed stores, GS Retail will voluntarily separate and dispose of transparent waste PET bottles generated at stores and will actively promote the campaign through GS Fresh Mall, the dedicated app 'The Pop,' and official social network services (SNS) and other GS Retail online platforms.

GS Retail expects this campaign to greatly help establish a correct awareness of separate disposal of transparent PET bottles. The possibility of resource recycling is also expected to increase. According to the Ministry of Environment, about 22,000 tons of transparent waste PET bottles are imported annually for the production of recycled PET.

Kim Si-yeon, head of social contribution at GS Retail, said, "Considering GS Retail’s average daily customer visits of 5.5 million, the campaign effect is expected to reach the scale of the entire population in about 10 days." He added, "We plan to continue social responsibility management based on ESG, including eco-friendly activities such as this transparent PET bottle separate disposal campaign."

Meanwhile, GS Retail has been strengthening company-wide eco-friendly management since declaring ‘Green Save’ in 2019 to fulfill corporate social responsibility and achieve sustainable growth. Last year, the paper cups and auxiliary materials of Cafe25, a dedicated coffee brand selling 100 million cups annually, were all changed to eco-friendly materials. GS Fresh Mall introduced eco-friendly packaging materials such as 100% recyclable paper boxes and ice packs specially made with water components, and GS The Fresh is promoting the culture of issuing electronic receipts through its dedicated app.

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