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  At the 120 th  meeting of government current affairs, the Ministry of Environment announced plastic-free measures to solve the increasing plastic municipal waste and the marine pollution issues. Let ’ s find out more details!   Critical increase of plastic waste The outbreak of COVID19 pandemic has changed our lifestyle since last year. Telecommuting, online lessons, and the ban on gatherings brought high demands on food and parcel delivery and this naturally caused a sharp increase of household waste. The production rate of plastic waste in the first half of 2020 is 8.48 million tons which is 15.6% higher than last year. On the other hand, the recycling rate has continuously decreased from 57.9% in 2015 to 40.6% in 2019. Korean Government has introduced various policies in order to reduce the use of plastic, but the practical effect is still questionable. The Ministry of Environment is now presenting a more fundamental policy to decrease the plastic waste by 20% ...

The Ministry of Environment announced the Ban on Repacking on June 18 th in order to reduce the wasted resource by unnecessary packaging. However, there was strong backlash among the industries and consumers as it did not give a clear guide line on the subjects or conditions. Finally, the ministry decided to reexamine the issue and set the standards with more details. The department organized a consultative body with relevant industries, experts, and consumer groups since last July and released the revised guide line including the specific subjects on September 21 st . The Government is also planning to apply various policies to decrease the amount of packaging waste. Now, let’s find out more details about the ban on repacking enacted on January of 2021! Based on the subject list, it can be understood that the regulation focuses on the reduction of synthetic materials, which is plastic packaging. The Ministry of Environment gives a 3-month preparation period to the industries for ...

  Korean Conformity Laboratories, KCL, held an Advisory Seminar with Experts in Paper Fields on August 11th at Golden River Hotel. The seminar brought the experts from research institutions, academics, enterprises together and shared the ideas through presentation and discussion in depth.   A testing and certification organization KCL is committed to testing, inspection, and certification of construction materials, consumer products, energy and environmental products. Recently, they have been promoting a business to establish bases to standardize specification and tests of fibers and paper products. Especially, this seminar was held to discuss establishing standards to stimulate circular economy of traditional industries and to share innovative technology. Daehan Paper, Hansol Paper, Jeonju Paper from paper industry, rePAPER, ANPOLY, BiLab of venture companies, university research institutes including Biotechnology of Kookmin University, Changgang institute of Paper Scienc...

As of June 22 nd , the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 was reported to be more than 8.8 million with the death toll of 466,700 in the world. This novel virus is known to be originated from a wet market in Wuhan city in China last December and started to spread globally in March of 2020. The borders are closed and schools and industries get stopped.  Experts warn that a pandemic like COVID-19 could now occur anytime and turn into an endemic, which is a disease regularly found in a certain area. Therefore, they insist that it is important to bring changes on general awareness and system based on “One Heath” approach. How is the disease related to ecosystem? And what does this approach actually mean?   What is One Health System? CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in the US explains One Health is an approach to recognize people’s health is closely connected to that of animals and the environment we share. It emphasizes that we should understand the interc...

  COVID-19 has been impacting a lot of people globally. In Korea, it is reported that approximately 80 percent of the confirmed cases occurred in Daegu and Gyeongbuk Province and the areas have been struggling with soaring demands in medical field. When they were officially declared as a special disaster zone, medical staff and volunteers from all over the country have gathered to lend them a hand while many organizations and individuals made a donation in sympathy with their suffering.   Among them, NICE Group, the biggest financial infrastructure service company in Korea, also decided to convey their hearts. They contributed goods worth 250 thousand dollars to Korean Red Cross to help those in need. As the virus is easily spread by droplets, Government advises people to keep social distancing and be extremely cautious with hygiene. If reusable containers are used, they need to be thoroughly cleaned and sterilized. As the medical staff in the affected areas are racing the...

  SEBAU Campaign is back! Jeju Olle announced another start of “Eco&Life, We Change The World – shortened as SEBAU in Korean’ this month. The Campaign organized by Seoul Economic Daily and Jeju Olle is an engagement campaign pursuing the resource circulation from production, consumption to recycling through the use of environment-friendly product.   SEBAU Campaign, The Beginning of Resource Circulation Together Jeju, a beautiful treasure island, is one of the most well-known tourist attractions in Korea that over 1.6 million tourists visit annually. However, it has been struggling with the increased amount of waste in proportion to the growing number of tourists. In order to help this troubled Jeju Island, SEBAU campaign was organized suggesting a more sustainable way. The 1 st SEBAU started in May last year with 65 cafes located around Olle trails. They mandatorily use a reusable cup for in-store customers and provide a drink in the SEBAU Eco-friendly Cup made of...