The Ministry of Environment (Minister Kim Wansup) will hold an international academic forum on the theme of “Promoting the Use of Alternative Plastics and Recycled Materials” at BEXCO (located in Haeundae-gu, Busan) where the 5th Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on the International Agreement on Plastic Pollution* is taking place on November 27.

* In March 2022, at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA), a resolution was adopted to promote the international agreement to address plastic pollution, and the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) for the development of the agreement was held in Busan.

This event is expected to be attended by over 100 experts from both domestic and international organizations, including the Ministry of Environment, the European Union (EU), the United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD), and Samyang Packaging.

Recently, the international community has been promoting policies to increase the use of recycled materials to reduce plastic use, and Korea is also pursuing responses and institutional improvements in line with this global trend.

* △ EU: Goal to use 25% recycled content in food-grade PET bottles by 2025 → 30% by 2030△ Korea: Goal for PET raw material producers (10,000 tons/year) to use 3% by 2023 

In this regard, the Ministry will conduct this event by dividing the overall policy management of domestic and international recycled plastic materials into three themes.

First, under the theme of “The European Union’s Plastic-Free Policy,” the European Commission (EC) will introduce trends in legislation regarding the use of recycled materials and the policy trends of member countries, urging efforts and attention from the international community to reduce plastic.

Next, the Ministry will present on 1) the current status of recycled material usage management in the country, 2) measures to promote the use of recycled materials, and 3) options for alleviating the burden on industries and boosting consumption, while exchanging opinions with experts from various sectors on policies to expand the use of recycled materials in Korea. 

Finally, the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC), an international private organization that certifies the use of recycled materials, will propose the establishment of a Korean certification system for effective management of recycled materials and plans to share its certification experiences for this purpose.

After the presentations, a discussion will be held on the theme of “Promoting the Use of Alternative Plastics and Recycled Materials” with domestic and international experts from organizations such as Samyang Packaging and the UNOSD, moderated by Professor Jang Yong-chul from Chungnam National University.

The Ministry plans to actively reflect the discussions held during this event in the recycled material usage policies to lead the implementation of a sustainable plastic circular economy.

Kim Go-eung, Director General of the Resources Circulation Bureau, stated, “Promoting the use of recycled materials is a core agenda of the international agreement to address plastic pollution.” He added, “We will spare no efforts in providing institutional support to ensure that the use of recycled materials can be enhanced based on the suggestions made by domestic and international experts.”

For further information, please contact the Public Relations Division. 

Contact person: Gina Lee, foreign media spokesperson

Phone: +82-44-201-6055

Email: gcjgina @gmail.com