Homeplus Expands Packaging Recycled Material Ratio to 30%

On the 19th, at the Homeplus headquarters management conference room in Deungchon-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, (from left) Kim Woong, Head of Product Division at Homeplus, Hong Jeong-gi, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environment, and Song Jae-yong, Chairman of the Korea Packaging Recycling Business Cooperative, held a signing ceremony for the '2025 Joint Declaration to Expand the Use of Eco-friendly Recycled Materials.'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Homeplus announced on the 19th that it held a signing ceremony for the ‘2025 Joint Declaration on Expanding the Use of Eco-friendly Recycled Raw Materials’ in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and the Korea Packaging Recycling Business Cooperative.

Through this agreement, Homeplus plans to increase the proportion of domestically produced recycled PET raw materials in its product packaging to over 30% by 2025 and gradually improve product packaging materials and structures to facilitate recycling. This is the first time a domestic retailer has declared a target for using recycled raw materials.

First, the proportion of domestically produced recycled PET raw materials in PET packaging for fresh foods such as fruits and vegetables will be increased to over 30%. In particular, Homeplus will conduct a full survey of packaging materials across all product categories, classify them into four grades?excellent, good, average, and difficult?based on recyclability, and upgrade packaging materials accordingly.

For PET packaging, colored PET will be replaced with clear PET, packaging that cannot separate the body and cap will be changed to a separable form, and labels made of different materials from the body will be changed to the same material as the body, thereby improving packaging previously rated as difficult to recycle to average or good grades.

The Ministry of Environment will actively support institutional improvements to supply high-quality recycled raw materials and produce packaging materials with easy-to-recycle materials and structures. Recently, from December 25, separate collection of transparent PET bottles has been implemented in apartment complexes nationwide, and the industry is being encouraged to improve facilities for producing high-quality recycled raw materials.

Additionally, by 2022, more than 100,000 tons of high-quality recycled PET raw materials will be produced domestically to fully replace imported waste PET and recycled raw materials, contributing not only to the growth of the domestic recycled raw material market but also to exports.

Meanwhile, the signing ceremony for the ‘2025 Joint Declaration on Expanding the Use of Eco-friendly Recycled Raw Materials’ was attended by Hong Jeong-gi, Vice Minister of Environment; Kim Woong, Head of Product Division at Homeplus; and Song Jae-yong, Chairman of the Korea Packaging Recycling Business Cooperative.

Vice Minister Hong Jeong-gi said, “As the use of recycled raw materials is expanding in the global market, leading efforts by domestic companies like Homeplus are necessary for the early formation of a high-quality recycled raw material market in Korea. The government announced a plastic reduction policy on December 24 and will accelerate institutional improvements and corporate support to expand high value-added recycling of plastics, a core task.”

Kim Woong, Head of Product Division at Homeplus, said, “Leveraging the characteristics of the distribution industry, which is in direct contact with customers, we decided to increase the proportion of recycled raw materials to contribute to spreading an eco-friendly consumption culture. We will continue to improve packaging across all product categories so that customers can participate in environmental preservation simply by consuming.”

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