- ‘Plastic Tray Zero’ campaign called for the removal of unnecessary plastic trays from certain snack products.
- Lotte, Haitai, Nongshim, and Dongwon all agreed to remove trays.
- All companies also announced further packaging reductions in other products.
Lotte Confectionery plans to replace the plastic tray in their Custard Cup Cakes with a paper tray by September and find a non-plastic alternative for the packaging of Mum’s Hand Pie, Kancho, and Cerial by the end of the year. It’s expected that this will reduce about 3.5 million tons of plastic per year. In addition, Lotte recently announced it would release an Eco Packaging Tray-less Seaweed product.
Haitai Confectionery announced plans to research and replace the plastic trays in its Home Run Ball product by the second half of next year.
Nongshim agreed to remove or replace the plastic tray for their Saengsaeng Udon product. The company stated that removing the trays was their top priority, and after researching alternatives, they will begin selling the revised product packaging from next year. They also announced that they would remove the plastic packing for their 4 Udon bundles and replace the packaging with a simple band. This change is expected to save about 10 tons of plastic per year.
Dongwon F&B announced that it would remove or replace the plastic tray from two seaweed products over the next two years. Dongwon F&B aims to reduce plastic use by 47 tons this year, 103 tons in 2022, and 200 tons in 2023. by expanding laver products excluding plastic trays. The company also announced plans to try and change the total amount of plastic used in all packaging parts.
The Korea Federation of Environmental Movements will continue to monitor the implementation of these changes closely and share the process and results.