Kolon’s zero-waste campaign

▷ Event to share zero-waste experiences, celebrating the UN International Day of Clean Air for blue skies

▷ Saved c.a. 50,000 disposable paper cups and reduced CO2 emission by 520kg in 100 days

▷ Proactive ESG management including recycling face mask waste and developing PCR PET file and PBAT

Kolon Group launched the Zero-Waste Campaign to encourage the staff on the 7^th, in celebration of the UN designated International Day of Clear Air for blue skies until the end of the month.

Zero-Waste Campaign encourages reduction of packages or use of recyclable materials and seeks to minimize waste in the daily lives. Lucky draw is planned for the Campaign to select and present gifts to some of those staff who share posts, photos or videos of how they are practicing environmental protection in their everyday lives on their social networking service during the event.

The Zero-Waste Campaign stemmed from the idea to analyze the performance of the Group’s 100-day effort to not use disposable cups since early-May and to accelerate environmental protection.

Across the Group, total 52,620 disposable cups were saved in 100 days thanks to the staffs’ using reusable cups instead of disposable cups. This has the same effect of reducing 520kg of CO2, so the Group-wide participation in “zero disposable cups” movement could have the effect of reducing almost 2 tons of CO2 emissions in a year.

When the Campaign was first launched, employees voluntarily donated new mugs and tumblers to encourage people who do not have reusable cups to participate in the Campaign. It was a gesture of sharing the objective of the Campaign that environmental protection in its true sense starts from not producing unnecessary products.

As a key member of the Entrepreneurship Round Table (ERT) led by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kolon has been proactively exercising ESG management to join efforts in resolving newly emerging social issues.

As the disposal of used face masks emerged as a new environmental issue following the surge of mask usage since the outbreak of COVID19, Kolon collected face mask wastes and transformed them into clothes hangers, succeeding in recycling face mask waste for the first time in Korea. Kolon Industries developed and commercialized polyester films made of Post Consumer Recycled (PCR) for the first time, and also developed PBAT (Polybuthylene Adipate-co-Terephthalate), which is biodegradable plastic that naturally decomposes in 6 months after being buried. The FnC division of Kolon Industries launched the upcycled fashion brand, “RE;CODE,” and is operating “weDO” which is a category within the company’s online mall that sells sustainable products.

Eun-Ju Shin of Kolon’s CSR secretariat remarked that “although not using disposable cups was inconvenient, the Campaign was widely accepted by the members for its intention of environmental protection. We will continue to refrain from using disposable goods in the business sites and proactively take the lead in solving environmental issues such as recycling face mask wastes.”