SK Global Chemical holds eco-friendly plastic packaging material forum

Private-Public-Academic Sectors Engaging in Packaging Industry, Jointly Stepping forth to Solve the Environmental Problem of Waste Plastic

• Led by SK Global Chemical, a forum was held for eco-friendly packaging materials to solve the problem of waste plastic, which is a cross-national problem.
• Stakeholders in the value chain share the need for a joint response as proposed by SK Global Chemical - about 170 people from 60 companies participated
• The purpose of the discussions was to share the eco-friendly technologies/policies and come up with measures to create a sustainable circulation ecosystem of plastic resources.
• "It is highly meaningful that we agreed on the need for the private-public-academic partnership. We will build a relevant channel for actual achievements," said President & CEO Na, Kyung-soo of SK Global Chemical

SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SK Global Chemical held the Eco-Friendly Plastic Packaging Material Forum at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul Hotel in the Republic of Korea on November 1 to proactively solve the global problem of waste plastic and vinyl, as well as other environmental issues.

Led by SK Global Chemical, which is a leading petrochemical company in Korea, a consultative body was composed encompassing the private, public, and academic sectors engaged in the packaging industry. They also started discussing ways to actually solve the problem of waste plastic, and thus, the forum is drawing the attention of the business.

Under the Green Balance Strategy (strategy of creating social value in the environmental field) of SK Innovation affiliation, SK Global Chemical believes that environmental problems, which occur due to chemical products like waste plastic and vinyl, are cross-national problems that must be solved by the cooperation of various stakeholders within the value chain. It thus planned the forum and proposed it to the business.

About 170 representatives from about 60 enterprises, governmental agencies, and academic societies participated in this eco-friendly forum. The participants shared the need for the private-public-academic sectors to jointly respond in order to raise the recycling ratio of plastic, reduce the use of plastic materials, and make materials that decompose and are gone. For this, they agreed that enterprises should engage in the necessary research and development with the government and academia supporting such efforts with policies and technologies. The forum thus succeeded at drawing the voluntary participation of the stakeholders.

"We aim to not only share eco-friendly technologies and policies with stakeholders in the packaging industry but also discuss measures to create a sustainable circulation ecosystem of plastic resources and the ways to jointly respond to the problem of waste plastic," an officer of SK Global Chemical explained.

During the forum, technologies to improve the material and structure of plastic easy to recycle, as well as technologies that can reduce the use of plastics based on highly-functional polymer, were introduced. The participants also held time to share the latest technological trends in the fields of pyrolysis, gasification, and biodegradation to solve the problem of waste plastic made of composite materials. The policy direction and main systemic changes for the circulation of plastic-related resources were also dealt with as part of the agenda.

During the panel discussion session, measures for collaboration within the value chain to jointly respond to the problem of waste plastic, as well as the problems faced by enterprises and the direction for them to pursue eco-friendly and sustainable packaging, were discussed in depth. At the end of the forum, major participating companies presented a joint declaration for "creating a circulation ecosystem of plastic packaging resources," and pledged to lead efforts made in solving the problem of waste plastic by building a private-public-academic collaboration system.

 "The forum is highly meaningful in that we formed a consensus on the need for the private-public-academic partnership dealing with the packaging industry to solve the environmental problem of waste plastic. We will continue to work hard to build on and offline channels so that the stakeholders may mutually exchange information and make actual achievements," Na said.

Attachment: enterprises, government agencies, and academic societies that participated in the forum