RETURN TO PAPER(En)

  rePAPER developed RP-series, the patented environmentally friendly paper coating solution, and produces the coated board REPA COAT, and food packaging as its application. rePAPER’s products are proven to be truly environment-sound with its superior material and organic recyclability as well as to be food-contact safe. This time, we will introduce the certificates rePAPER owns and what features each of them refers to. 1. Recyclability (Material Recycling) The post-consumer products can be entirely repulped and used as a raw material for another paper-based product. 2. Compostability (organic recycling) : rePAPER’s products planted in the garden are degraded by microbes and become fertile compost. 3. Food contact safety : The products are safe to be in contact with foods as primary packaging.  With the objective and clear data achieved in accordance with the international standards, rePAPER has proven the environmentally friendly and harmless properties of the products. ...

  Have you heard of the movie, “Dark Waters”? Inspired by a true story, the movie talks about how dangerous PFCs(Per- and polyfluoro compounds) could be. It starts with 190 milk cows dying around the town where one of the major chemical manufacturing companies, DuPont, is located. People suffer from diseases for no apparent reason. Later, it turns out that they are related to PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic Acid), a harmful kind of PFCs, secretly released from the plant. Finding out the truth, Robert Bilott, an attorney of the case, started to fight for the case for 20 years since 1998 and finally had DuPont make reparations of $671 million.   PFCs(fluoropolymer), Carcinogen That Might Be Around Us All the Time PFCs are compounds that all – or some parts- of hydrogen in hydrocarbons are substituted for fluorine. They are used widely from various industry fields such as firefighting foams and cleaning in semiconductor manufacturing plants to consumer products like cookware, food pa...

WWF(World Wide Fund for Nature) released a report titled ‘No Plastic in Nature: Assessing Plastic Ingestion from Nature to People’ with the University of Newcastle in Australia. The research says that there is plenty of microplastic in water and foods we eat every day. The astonishing finding that each one of us intakes approximately 2,000 pieces of microplastic every week has brought people’s attention even more closely to the marine waste issue. Furthermore, it is also reported that polystyrene has been detected the most among the microplastic found in the seafoods.   Let’s find out more details about this material. What is Polystyrene? <Different types of Polystyrene> Polystyrene is generally classified into 3 different types; regular polystyrene, high-impact polystyrene, and expanded polystyrene. Regular polystyrene is used for transparent cases, insulation in construction, food and other packaging containers while high-impact polystyrene is for cases for electronic...

COVID-19 can’t stop the war against single-use plastics Threatened by the rapidly spreading virus, people give much preference to single-use products over reusable ones. As the virus is known to be easily spread by droplets, the value of hygiene is getting more attention than that of convenience from these products. When this current situation has affected and halted a plastic ban policy in each country, Europe is firmly taking steps to kick them out. In fact, Europe declared war against plastic long ago. The European Commission hereinafter EC announced in May of 2018 that they were going to establish regulations to restrict on major disposable plastic products. According to the announcement, the products including straws, swabs, stirrers, and other single-use utensils will be completely banned by 2021, and manufactures should use alternatives for them. The EC also decided to reduce the use of containers for take-out foods and beverages that they cannot be provided for free in 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...

China announced an environmentally friendly strategy on disposables that they would start the restriction on single-use products and the affected areas would be expanded nationwide within 5 years on January 19 th , 2020. The world’s biggest city, New York, began the ban on plastic bags and the most populated state, California signed on the legislations to stop the use of plastic containers for hotels’ amenities. Korean government also set up a 5-year roadmap on disposables in November of 2019 and aimed to reduce the consumption rate by 35% by 2020. While they steadily settle the regulations accordingly, an unexpected hurdle appeared. It is COVID-19.   COVID-19 Changed Our Lives WHO officially announced “pandemic” which refers to a disease epidemic that has spread across a large region as this novel virus seems to be highly contagious. The number of confirmed cases is 213,839 over the world and about 20,000 is added up daily. Consequently, it has brought some noticeable chan...

  The fear and anxiety about COVID-19 has spread the world. Showing the symptoms of respiratory illness, this new type of virus is known to be contagious by human-to-human transmission and people have become vulnerable to see how fast it gets into their daily lives. As the virus was resulted from unsanitary food distribution system and eating practices, everyone became extremely careful about individual hygiene. Consequently, the needs of single-use products have been drastically increased, especially in the places where people with a low immune system gather.   Stop the COVID-19 from Spreading! Temporary Allowance on Disposable Products Since the revised Act on the Promotion of Saving and Recycling of Resources was implemented in 2018, it has been prohibited to offer single use plastic containers for the in-store customers at food service areas in Korea. After the outbreak of COVID-19, however, the Ministry of Environment temporarily lifted the regulation for where there ...