The Ministry of Environment has made removing labels from transparent plastic bottles mandatory for recycling since December last year.
Beverage makers are now joining the environmental effort, including Jeju’s popular mineral water brand Samdasoo, which will soon be releasing labelless packaging.
Mike Laidman reports.

Report


This label hasn’t been removed from this plastic bottle, thus human intervention is needed.
This worker removes the label, then puts it back in the bin.
The Ministry of Environment has made removing labels from transparent plastic bottles mandatory since December of last year, but many are unaware, or simply ignore, the policy.

But now, finally, beverage makers have begun producing environmentally-friendly label-free products.
This increases the recycling rate and saves the trouble of detaching labels.


The Jeju Provincial Development Corporation, owner of popular drinking water (삼다수) Samdasoo, is also joining in on the environmental effort.


The company has plans to produce 100 million 2-liter bottles without plastic labels beginning in June.
This should reduce about 64 tons of plastic waste.
Then, by 2030, there are plans to replace 50 percent of the plastic used for making bottles with bioplastics and recycled plastics.

INTERVIEW
Kim Jeong-hak / CEO, Jeju Provincial Development Corporation
‘Green Editions’ of our bottles, without labels, will be launched in the first half of the year. We’re also joining efforts to cut plastic use by 2030 through R&D and by reducing the amount of plastic we use.
<인터뷰 : 김정학 / 제주도개발공사 사장>
"상반기 중 제주 삼다수 무라벨 제품인 그린 에디션 출시를 시작으로 용기 경량화 및 소재 연구와 혁신을 통해 2030년까지 플라스틱 사용량을 줄이는 탈 플라스틱 비전을 이행할 것입니다."



The simple step of creating plastic bottles without a label that needs to be removed prior to recycling means less waste produced beforehand, easier recycling, and the first step towards more eco-friendly production.

Mike Laidman, KCTV