Buzz buzz.
4th, Jeju Samdasoo bottled water factory in Jocheon-eup, Jeju City. QR codes are being successively engraved on the caps of 500ml water bottles lined up on the conveyor belt. These bottles have no label band. The QR code contains all the necessary information such as product name, water source, and expiration date. The QR code also replaces the barcode needed for checkout.
Mun Su-hyeong, the Deputy Minister of the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Development Corporation, whom I met at the factory, explained, “Labels are all plastic too,” adding, “We are reducing plastic by 64 tons annually through label-free products.” The Jeju Development Corporation is the manufacturer of Jeju Samdasoo and is a representative public corporation of the region. It is separate from private companies that distribute bottled water.
Currently, the proportion of label-free products in the total sales of Jeju Samdasoo is about 50%. Jeju Development Corporation plans to produce all products without labels next year.
Beside one side of the conveyor belt, there is a monitor to check if the four corners of the QR code are well imprinted within the small cap. This is to catch products where the QR code protrudes beyond the cap. Jeju Samdasoo 500ml products with the QR code properly seated on the cap are packaged in bundles of 20 and transported to supermarkets, convenience stores, and other locations nationwide.
Jeju Development Corporation has also reduced the amount of plastic in the water container itself by making the water bottles thinner. As a result, the plastic weight of a 500ml Jeju Samdasoo bottle has decreased from 22.48 grams (g) in 2020 to 17.88g this year. The annual plastic generation per ton of Jeju Samdasoo production also decreased from 35,039g to 29,490g over the same period.
To further reduce plastic, Jeju Development Corporation established a plan last month to develop an 'ultra-light container compatible with nitrogen charging'. Making plastic containers thinner than before is not an easy task. If the thickness is reduced, the container may become dented or burst during transportation due to shock.
Therefore, Jeju Development Corporation chose the 'nitrogen charging' method. Nitrogen charging involves adding a drop of liquid nitrogen to the bottled water during packaging. The small amount of nitrogen is harmless to the human body. This technology was first applied domestically by LOTTE Chilsung Beverage last year with their 'Icis' product.
Due to the expanding nature of liquid nitrogen when it meets water, nitrogen-charged products can prevent crumpling even if the water container is thin. However, a disadvantage is that the container is prone to crumple when opening, which may cause the water to spill. Jeju Development Corporation plans to apply the nitrogen charging method to some products starting in 2029.
From next year, producers of PET bottles for food and beverages are required to use at least 10% recycled materials derived from plastic waste. The target is for final product producers of bottled water and drinks PET bottles with an annual production of over 5,000 tons, which includes Jeju Development Corporation.
In response, Jeju Development Corporation decided to utilize recycled plastic when making water containers. The Deputy Minister Mun stated, “Even utilizing recycled plastic does not change the process of making PET bottles,” and “It just adds the step of mixing recycled materials.” At the end of last year, Jeju Development Corporation completed research verifying potential harmful substances before introducing recycled materials (MR-PET).
The raw material for PET is called chips. Recycled chips are made by filtering out impurities from collected plastic, washing it four times, then shredding and compressing it into a shape the size of airsoft pellets. New containers are made by mixing recycled chips with new plastic, or new material chips, in a certain ratio.
The process is more complicated and incurs more expense than using new materials. For a 500ml bottle, the cost of a container made solely with new material chips is 18.5 won, but it becomes 19.4 won when adding 10% recycled chips.
By 2030, the mandatory use ratio of recycled materials will increase to 30%. The Ministry of Environment judged that this price difference is not significant enough to raise consumer prices. It is also expected that increasing recycled chip production will reduce expense due to economies of scale.
Jeju Development Corporation is also putting full effort into the separation and discharge project, the first step in securing recycled plastic. It is expanding recycling support centers as bases in Jeju and supporting collection activities. Through this method, 47% of the sales volume within the province has been collected.
Additionally, 15 automatic PET recycling compensation machines, which give points for depositing used containers, are operated throughout Jeju. Last year, 266,000 tons were collected using these machines.
Jeju Development Corporation stated, “We will continue to move forward today and not stop for a greener tomorrow,” and “There is a future that Jeju Samdasoo aims to hold within the value of water with an environmental focus.”