Progress report for
Guidelines for Reducing Plastic Waste (GRP) and Global Partnership
Achievement at a glance
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
Hyundai Department Store has drastically cut down plastic wrapping and packaging, providing biodegradable bags as delivery alternatives. Hyundai Home Shopping, meanwhile, replaced delivery boxes with ‘finger boxes’ composed of paper which can be assembled by hands.In partnership with the two fashion corporations UNIQLO and Handsome, ASD initiated small eco- friendly changes concerning the type of fabric material and the amount of water used in the production process. For instance, Handsome has presented sneakers made out of apple peels, and UNIQLO is in the process of removing plastic materials from all their clothing and reducing the amount of water used in their washing process. Both have paid more attention to using smaller proportions of cotton in their clothes production, and, include eco-friendly materials such as EcoVero (a more sustainably produced viscose) or TENCEL-lyocell (a natural fiber).
KT (Korea Telecom), as one of the most active partners of ASD’s campaigns, initiated a “tree planting” marathon. As a result of which, one tree per kilometer ran by a participating employee was donated. As such, the campaign successfully planted 30 thousand trees in an abandoned wasteland for environmental purification.
With CJ Logistics (a global logistic corporation), ASD initiated a public campaign printing an eco-friendly message on 1.22 billion parcel box invoices, which is the average number of invoices used annually. The dissemination of this message raised awareness on the dire impacts of climate change.