Progress report for
Guidelines for Reducing Plastic Waste(GRP) and Eco-Friendly Initiative
Achievement at a glance
For seven years now, ASD has implemented various eco-friendly projects with different enterprises and the GRP were promoted with the 2017 UN Ocean Conference, using its momentum. The GRP are updated annually and ASD publishes and announces them each year to encourage enterprises to pay more attention to the SDGs, the marine environment, and global warming. In addition, ASD’s activities include awareness-raising of environmental issues and advisory services to the National Assembly and enterprises for environmental strategies, environmental and sustainable management, and the implementation of the SDGs.Throughout the project’s life, ASD has strived to warn the government and global corporations of the environmental expenses which they have to cover for current environmental pollution, especially marine pollution, which is persisting. In the Asia-Pacific region alone, where extensive ocean pollution occurs, the tourism, fishing, and shipping industries bear expenses of around $1.3 billion a year from plastic litter.
As part of its campaigns, ASD recommends global corporations to take concrete action to cut the usage of plastic as the main cause of marine pollution. ASD analyzes various company groups to discover potential for concrete measures on reducing plastic waste at the initial stage of the company’s production process. Ultimately, ASD urges eco-friendly production lines for all plastic manufacturing enterprises. In order to establish an institutional framework, continuous discussions with the National Assembly are held.
Challenges faced in implementation
The main partners of ASD have continuously been highlighting concern about environmental issues and the importance to tackle them. Yet, the rise of costs accompanied by the substitution of plastic packaging to plastic alternatives has been an obstacle for innovative change. The cost effectiveness of environmental strategies has been a major challenge for businesses and one of the main explanations to their passive behavior.In consideration of this challenge, from the corporative perspective, ASD advises corporations in making impact through small changes. For instance, in partnership with corporations in the groceries and packed lunch fields, ASD advised to initiate a change by replacing or reducing the use of disposable paper cups and plastic forks.
Beneficiaries
In the context of the GRP and the diverse campaigns conducted to resolve environmental issues, ASD has built partnerships with enterprises in different sectors; for example: groceries (food), fashion, finance, semiconductors, and information and communications technology (ICT). Key partners are CJ CheilJedang (one of Asia’s largest bio-food corporations); UNIQLO Co. Ltd. and The Handsome (fashion corporations); SK Hynix (the world’s largest semiconductor corporation); HSBC (a global financial enterprise); KT (a global telecommunication corporation); Hyundai Department Store and Hyundai Home Shopping; Hyundai Green Food Co. Ltd.; Hyundai Livart (a major furniture company in South Korea); CJ Olive Young Corporation (health and beauty); CJ Logistics; Everdigm (construction company), BukangTech Co. Ltd.; and Hansot (a takeout lunch company). Some of the partnership results are elaborated on in the next section.
Actions
These corporations are approached by ASD with the full consideration and understanding of the given circumstances in their designated field. Thereby, ASD consults the companies with reasonable and necessary measures. Depending on the field and the company’s situation, ASD suggests both short- and long-term activities that are vital for environmental protection. Activities are prioritized based on their feasibility and initiated on a case-by-case basis with each corporation.The introduced certification system through the GRP reviews how companies handle waste according to 3 aspects (3R): Reduce, Replace, and Recycle. Each of the 3R Indices is divided into detailed indicators. Thereby, its fundamental objective is to reduce waste generation and create a resource-circulating society by restraining the origin of waste, using and converting substitutes into products of various
materials, and reusing them. Targeted fields include petrochemicals, fashion, retail, food and beverages, cosmetics, and accommodations and restaurants. Each field is composed with customized criterions for a thorough review. Calculated on the basis of a computation model, corporations are categorized into 4 groups: AAA (highly sustainable corporations, surpassing the Guidelines, Top 10%), AA+ (sustainable corporations abiding to the Guidelines, Top 20%), AA (corporations close to fully abiding to the Guidelines, Top 30%), and AA- (corporations which have a high understanding of the Guidelines, top 40%).