Private-public-academic circles gather to build a sustainable circular economy

SK Innovation announced that the “2021 Korea Eco-friendly Packaging Forum” was held in two days, starting from Nov. 3 at Walkerhill Hotel, Seoul, Korea, with the participation of its eco-friendly chemical subsidiary – SK Geo Centric.

“Korea Eco-friendly Packaging Forum” is an annual event that started in 2019. This year, the main topic of the event is named “Circular Economy through Eco-friendly Packaging.”

Participants of the 2021 Korea Eco-friendly Packaging Forum take a commemorative photo at the event on Nov. 3, 2021. Former Minister of Environment Cho Myung-rae and CEO Kim Jun of SK Innovation are seen at the fifth and sixth from left, respectively.
Participants of the 2021 Korea Eco-friendly Packaging Forum take a commemorative photo at the event on Nov. 3, 2021. Former Minister of Environment Cho Myung-rae and CEO Kim Jun of SK Innovation are seen at the fifth and sixth from left, respectively.

Around 100 relevant companies, government agencies, and academia joined forces to change packaging materials, a major causes of current environmental issues, into eco-friendly ones.

The background of this annual forum is the shared concerns over environmental pollutions caused by plastic waste such as packaging materials. It developed into a platform for the industry, government, and academia to share the solution methodologies and the results of actual implementations and discuss measures to solve the impending issues, mutual cooperation, and necessary support.

Minister of Environment, Han Jeoung-ae, who took part in the event through a celebratory video, expressed her gratitude for the efforts made by the packaging industry and asked for the continued attention and endeavor to build a circular economy.

“The efforts made by many businesses to cut back packaging wastes has become the engine to propel our society’s carbon neutrality and circular economy. The government will offer active institutional improvement and unstinting support in the entire course of resource circulation,” Minister Han said in the video.

In a congratulatory address, SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun said, “I hope the eco-friendly forum will keep on developing as a platform in which the industry, government, and academia can share their ideas with others for the purpose of solving the problem of plastic wastes.”

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