[Special Article] Everything About Plastic and Our Choices for Tomorrow 6, The final (Awareness and Actions have to Become One)

Since last March, we have covered the many aspects of plastic in over 6 articles. The articles include information on how plastic was born, its golden ages as the lead role of industrialization, how it ended up being a fatal threat to mankind and the environment, and its problems and solutions. 

We would like to conclude this series by discussing our present and our future in this age of ‘ban plastic”

Too much responsibility on the consumers 

You probably went through your trash yesterday too, like every other day, dividing the plastic milk cartons and plastic strawberry containers, and all the plastic disposable takeout containers, cleaning them and separating them from cookie wrappers. But here we face several questions. Why is the recycling rate for plastic still only 20% when we work so hard to recycle plastic? (Which will drop even more when the rate of separating and putting recyclable materials is considered, which is 45%, and even lower when energy conversion rates is considered.) Why does the consumer have to memorize the separation of the recyclable waste table and fret about HDPE, PP, PS, PVC, and OTHER? Why is the consumer burdened with all this? Should the consumer have to pay for the goods and have to handle the disposal too? How efficient is this in solving environmental problems? With all the trouble you go through every day to recycle, isn’t the recycling rate too low?

<Source: Korea Ministry of Environment>

 

Hoping that ESG becomes the actual pattern of behavior for companies

In the past few years, ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) has become the main slogan for companies and governments all over the world. But just as the term “eco-friendly” had been used for company marketing with no actual relation to eco-friendly management in the past, there are concerns that ESG is becoming the next “eco-friendly”. Early this year there was a lot of criticism about the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy’s K-ESG evaluation, claiming that the companies which received the A grade were not evaluated thoroughly. Also, the budget related to climate and environment of Seoul, which has vowed to become a ‘carbon neutral city’ in 2050, has been drastically cut, yet again drawing criticism.

Governments and companies claiming to advocate ESG management should look beyond market size and market efficiency and see how products supplied to the market are affecting the environment and the ecosystem, and take responsibility for it. In order to do this, transparent management, major structural reform, and diverse members are needed.  

 

Hoping for integrated and realistic regulations

Many environmental groups and research institutes have endlessly raised issues on the fatal threats of disposable plastic packing materials, but due to covid, Korea’s has increased by 16% from 734 tons daily in 2017 to 850 tons in 2020. The government is operating the EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) system, making manufacturers produce products that are recyclable from the beginning, and also taking charge of recycling the waste that comes after. For this, thousands of Korean companies are paying recycling contributions. But occasionally we come across news about companies that sort waste refusing to receive waste, or go bankrupt due to financial difficulties. 

Why is this happening when thousands of companies are paying recycling contributions? We can guess that probably the contributions are not used properly or the contributions were not planned realistically. There are many opinions in the industry that the support system for contributions within the EPR system needs to be operated properly. In other words, the support system for distribution needs to be designed again, for companies to actually be able to collect, transport, and sort. 

 

Due to covid, Untact consuming has sharply increased and the use of disposable products has surged. Under this current situation, the delay and vagueness of eco-friendly regulations are driving the eco-friendly market to Green-Washing. ‘Eco-friendly’ has become the competitiveness for companies and countries. Countries should now increase the percentage of resource circulation, reinforce systems to develop actual eco-friendly products that are harmless to the ecosystem and kick out harmful products from the market.  

What we can do 

With the environment polluted and the ecosystem threatened by plastic, what can we do as individuals? Companies are passive and the government is slow to take measures, but still, there are actual things we can and must do, like the “20 suggestions to help protect the Earth” by Tyler. 

Based on our experiences through covid, we have to change our awareness and ways of life. We should be able to distinguish green-washing, and urge the companies and the government as consumers and also people of the nation. When we do this, other consumers will also support companies with true ESG management, and many companies will focus on developing eco-friendly technology, which will be the result of our collective efforts to change social behavior. Of course, this will take much time and effort, but if we can make it happen, won’t we be remembered as a good generation? Ten people taking one step each will be much more helpful in making these changes than one person’s ten steps.

rePAPER, a eco-friendly paper coating solutions, will continue to incorporate the RP-SERIES, a coating solution that functions the same as plastic coated packing materials but can totally be recycled and composted, and become a small but strong leader on the way to ban plastic.

 

[Special Article] Everything About Plastic and Our Choices for Tomorrow Series

1. [Special Article] Everything About Plastic and Our Choice For Tomorrow_1 History of Plastic and Its Scale

2. [Special Article] Everything about Plastic and Our Choice for Tomorrow 2. Plastic Disposal, How It became the Major Cause of Environmental Pollution

3-1.  [Special Article] Everything About Plastic and Our Choice for Tomorrow 3, The World’s Movement to be Plastic-free (Americas and Europe)_1

3-2. [Special Article] Everything About Plastic and Our Choice For Tomorrow 3. World’s Movement to be Plastic-free_2 (Asia, Africa, and the Middle East)

4.  [Special Article] Everything About Plastic and Our Choice for Tomorrow 4. The Last Countdown For Sustainable Marine Ecosystem

5. [Special Article] Everything About Plastic and Our Choice for Tomorrow 5. Invisible Threat, Microplastics

 

<Environment groups for ban plastic, home and abroad>
Environmental Protection Agency	Project	Contents
WWF Korea	Plastic Free Campaign	- Offers guidelines for plastic reduction - Hosted the PACT (Plastic ACTion) joint statement, collecting plastic waste from the ocean - Offers education and action plans to recycle plastic
Green Korea	Against disposable containers  for food delivery	- Monitors policies for promoting the recycling of containers for cosmetics and taking action - Hosted the Plastic Waste Crisis Debate - Movement against disposable containers for food delivery - Promotes multi-use containers
Greenpeace	Plastic Zero	- Published report on the consumption, disposal, and recycling of plastic in Korea - The hosted event where people participated in life without plastic experiments - Try reusable packaging campaign
Korea Federation for Environmental Movements	Recycling of resources	- Raise awareness on the use of unnecessary plastic and request companies to change - Research on plastic related policies - Hosted open discussions
Clean Ocean Project	Campaign to ban plastic straws	- Raise awareness on marine pollution - Campaign to clean oceans - Campaign to ban plastic bags and plastic products
Earth Day Network	Campaign against plastic pollution	- Information on how plastic pollution affects mankind and the ecosystem - Promote use of multi-use grocery bags and silverware - Campaign on picking up garbage awareness and ways of life.