• SK chemicals plans to use SamDaSoo PET bottles collected from all over the country to produce recycled PET as an upcycled product after production
• Joint development for the commercialization of Korea’s 1st chemical recycled PET (CR PET) bottled water

SK chemicals (CEO Jeon Kwang-hyeon) and Jeju Province Development Corporation (CEO Kim Jeong-hak), which produces and sells Jeju SamDaSoo, will cooperate in building a recycling ecosystem for PET bottles produced in Korea.

The two companies announced on the 5th that they had signed a business agreement for “establishing a PET bottle recycling ecosystem” in the Jeju Province Development Corporation’s business building located in Jeju City, Jeju Island. Jeon Kwang-hyun, CEO of SK chemicals, and Kim Jeong-hak, CEO of Jeju Province Development, were in attendance.

According to the agreement, Jeju Province Development Corporation will collect high-quality transparent plastic bottles and provide them to SK chemicals. SK chemicals plans to process the bottles into recycled PET (r-PET) and use it as a raw material for copolyester production. With the recycled materials produced in this way, the company plans to expand the recycling value chain to cosmetic container, textile, and home appliance markets to revitalize the Korean circular economy.

In addition, the two companies will cooperate in developing the first chemically recycled plastic bottle for bottled water products in Korea. Chemical Recycling PET (CR PET) is a technology that produces plastics by decomposing plastics and returning them to their pure raw material state. The technology is recognized as producing a suitable material for bottled water products since it allows repeated recycling of plastics without degrading the quality.

To this end, Jeju Province Development Corporation plans to provide SK chemicals with high-quality SamDaSoo PET bottles collected from all over the country through the Jeju Samdasoo home delivery service platform, SamDaSoo App.

Meanwhile, the corporation is promoting eco-friendly management of the Green Hall Process and collects transparent plastic bottles for a virtuous cycle of resources. In Jeju Island, through the ▲transparent plastic bottle collection facility ▲the automatic PET bottle collection and compensation machine ▲the marine waste upcycle project, over 200 tons of transparent plastic bottles were collected and turned into eco-friendly fashion items.

In 2019, SK chemicals launched ECOTRIA R, a copolyester made from recycled PET (r-PET). Also, the company is focusing on expanding its chemical recycling product portfolio in line with the expansion of the eco-friendly plastics market. To that end, SK chemicals secured exclusive rights within the Korean market for chemical-recycled materials and chemical-recycled PET products through investment shares with a Chinese recycling business in May.

Jeon Kwang-hyeon, CEO of SK chemicals, said, “We expect to build an eco-friendly plastic circulation system and create synergy through a business agreement with Jeju Province Development Corporation, which produces and distributes Jeju SamDaSoo, a representative bottled water brand in Korea.” He added, “We plan to further strengthen our ESG management system through the development of eco-friendly products such as chemical recycling of PET (CR-PET).”

Jeju Province Development Corporation CEO Kim Jeong-hak said, “As we produce and sell Jeju SamDaSoo, the No. 1 brand in the domestic bottled water industry, we want to minimize the impact of plastic bottles on the environment by prioritizing eco-friendly activities. From the production of eco-friendly products through material innovation to the collection and recycling of plastic bottles, we will expand the circular economy system from Jeju to nationwide and promote the value of resource circulation with the eco-friendly material company SK chemicals.”