SK Chemicals Signs PET Bottle Resource Circulation Agreement with Hwaseong City and Gyeonggi-do Corporation

Collecting Transparent PET Bottles Using Delivery Container Return Infrastructure

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] SK Chemicals is taking a full-scale step to establish a PET bottle recycling ecosystem in collaboration with Hwaseong City and Gyeonggi-do Corporation.

On the 23rd, SK Chemicals announced that it signed a business agreement with Hwaseong City and Gyeonggi-do Corporation at the Hwaseong Dongtan Branch Office to promote the recycling of used PET bottles through the public delivery app 'Baedal Teukgeup'.

According to the agreement, Hwaseong City and Gyeonggi-do Corporation will collect transparent PET bottles from households using the collection infrastructure of the Baedal Teukgeup reusable delivery container project, which has been implemented in Dongtan New Town, Hwaseong since July this year, and provide them to SK Chemicals. SK Chemicals plans to process these into recycled PET (r-PET) to be used as raw materials for copolyester production or supply the recycled PET (r-PET) to manufacturers producing recycled products such as bags, clothing, and containers.

Gyeonggi-do has been conducting a pilot project since July this year in Dongtan New Town to foster a culture of using reusable delivery and packaging food containers. Through the Gyeonggi-do public delivery app Baedal Teukgeup, food is delivered only in reusable containers to customers who order using reusable containers, and the containers are subsequently collected and washed.

SK Chemicals expects to secure high-quality PET raw materials through this collaboration. Although hundreds of tons of plastic waste are generated daily, it is difficult to secure high-quality recycled raw materials due to contamination and other issues during the collection, sorting, and recycling processes.

Using the Baedal Teukgeup app, SK Chemicals and Hwaseong City plan to collect 100 tons of high-quality transparent PET bottles in 2022 and expand to other municipalities in Gyeonggi-do in 2023 to recover more than 1,000 tons of transparent PET bottles. The collected PET bottles will be recycled into high-quality recycled PET (r-PET), replacing the high-quality recycled PET imported from overseas for major domestic cosmetic packaging and recycling fiber production.

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