This Lunar New Year, 'Kind Gifts'... Lotte Department Store Expands Adoption of Eco-Friendly Packaging Materials

A customer is purchasing a gift set wrapped in eco-friendly packaging at Lotte Department Store.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Lotte Department Store announced on the 14th that it is taking the lead in 'ethical consumption' by expanding the use of eco-friendly materials in holiday gift packaging, which traditionally involves a large amount of disposable packaging.

Lotte Department Store stated, "This year, we are introducing eco-friendly shopping bags exclusively for the food section during the Lunar New Year gift sales period." The eco-friendly shopping bags, available at all Lotte Department Store food sections until February 2nd, are reusable upcycled bags made from recycled discarded PET bottles. They feature calligraphy commemorating the Year of the Black Tiger 2022, making them suitable as gift bags as well.

Since 2020, Lotte Department Store has been expanding the use of eco-friendly packaging materials, including the introduction of paper packaging. The department store explained, "Holiday gift sets have traditionally used Styrofoam, plastic boxes, and gel ice packs as packaging to protect products from external shocks and maintain freshness. These packaging materials are bulky and difficult to separate for recycling, causing environmental pollution issues every year. Moreover, the three major holiday gift sets?meat, dried yellow corvina, and fresh fruit?each sell over 130,000 units every holiday, prompting us to improve packaging."

Focusing on the three major gift sets, Lotte Department Store replaced the previously plastic packaging with plant-based paper materials that are easy to separate and recycle. This change was first introduced for the three major gift sets starting from Chuseok 2020 and expanded to Hanwoo beef gift sets from last Lunar New Year. For dried yellow corvina packaging, a patented triple-layer corrugated cardboard case was used to maintain cooling performance, and paper bags replaced the previously difficult-to-recycle fabric bags.

They also introduced the industry's first recyclable 'eco-friendly gel ice pack.' Lotte Department Store explained, "Since last Lunar New Year, we have introduced 'water' ice packs with environmental considerations, but during Chuseok, due to the summer season, the use of gel ice packs with superior cooling performance was unavoidable to maintain product freshness. The 'eco-friendly gel ice pack' introduced by Lotte Department Store is made from biodegradable natural materials, allowing the contents to be disposed of separately into the sewage system for easy processing, while providing the same level of cooling performance as regular gel ice packs."

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