Jeju Samdasoo "Setting Eco-Friendly Standards in the Bottled Water Market through Recycled PET Product Development"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Development Corporation, which produces and sells Jeju Samdasoo, announced on the 1st that it is accelerating the development of recycled PET (R-PET) prototypes in line with the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's push to expand the recycling of waste plastic food containers.

Jeju Development Corporation plans to complete research and development, prototype production, and quality and safety verification for products using recycled PET within this year, and to introduce related eco-friendly products starting next year, when related laws are expected to be amended.

Earlier, on the 28th of last month, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety agreed to establish recognition standards to allow transparent PET bottles used for food to be made into food containers, in order to expand recycling of waste plastics in line with the transition to a circular economy for carbon neutrality and international trends.

Once related laws are amended in the future, PET bottles collected after drinking mineral water will be recycled and released as new products.

Already, the European Union (EU), the United States, Japan, and others recycle raw materials such as PET that have undergone physical recycling for food use into food containers. If implemented domestically, it is expected that at least 100,000 tons of recycled PET raw materials will be reborn.

Accordingly, Jeju Development Corporation is promoting the commercialization of recycled PET products in step with the eco-friendly initiatives of the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

By the first half of this year, it plans to complete raw material procurement and equipment application tests for the development of recycled PET prototypes, and within the year, it will proceed with safety verification and physicochemical property verification to secure product quality according to FDA standards.

Since launching an in-house eco-friendly TFT last year, the corporation has been implementing green whole process management company-wide, and has been proactively conducting research and development related to recycled PET according to a phased roadmap to reduce plastic usage by 50% by 2030.

The corporation is conducting research not only on recycled PET but also on bio-PET development. Bio-PET is a material that uses plant-based raw materials, reducing carbon dioxide by about 30% compared to conventional PET and is 100% recyclable.

Currently, in the European (EU) region and global companies, sustainable management with an emphasis on expanding the use of recycled raw materials from a resource circulation perspective has emerged as a key agenda.

With the establishment of this waste plastic food container recycling policy, related development and product launches will become possible domestically, and starting with Samdasoo, which leads the industry, related product development in the industry is expected to become active.

Jeju Development Corporation President Kim Jeong-hak stated, “For a sustainable Earth, it is not the Earth but we who must change,” and added, “We will accelerate research and development to become a brand that offers health to consumers who trust and drink Jeju Samdasoo as well as to the environment.”

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