Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
Korea starts producing thin, lightweight plastic water bottles
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By Lee Hae-rin
Korea will begin producing thin and lightweight plastic bottles for drinking water for the first time starting next Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Environment, Thursday.
The new product will be the lightest bottle, weighing 9.4 grams per 500 milliliters, which is 2.2 grams lighter than the previous version. This initiative is expected to reduce plastic consumption for bottle production by 127 tons annually, as it uses 20 to 30 percent less plastic compared to the previous model.
The advantage of using thin, lightweight plastic bottles is their ease of crushing, which can reduce space for disposal and transportation
The lightweight plastic bottle is easy to dispose of but prone to damage during distribution. To address this, the nitrogen charging method will be used for the first time in Korea to make containers for potable spring water. This technique, already common in other countries, enhances the bottle's durability and maintains water quality.
In this method, liquid nitrogen is injected into the plastic bottle, where it vaporizes and expands to maintain internal pressure, enhancing the bottle's resistance. This nitrogen charging technique has previously been used in Korea for beverages like coffee, drinks, and tea.
While there are no regulations in Korea prohibiting the use of nitrogen charging for drinking water bottles, the lack of specific guidelines permitting its use has hindered its introduction in the industry.
In the first half of 2021, the National Institute of Environmental Research confirmed that nitrogen charging does not affect drinking water quality. Following this, the ministry initiated a pilot project with Lotte Chilsung Beverage in the second half of this year to produce nitrogen-charged drinking water bottles.
The Ministry of Environment plans to test the distribution and sale of nitrogen-filled drinking water and evaluate whether to label the product as nitrogen-charged .
"It is very meaningful that the company has voluntarily proposed cooperation and produced nitrogen-filled drinking water bottle products to reduce plastic use,” Lee Seung-hwan, a water use policy officer at the ministry, said. “The ministry will actively promote the improvement of the system to expand the use of lightweight plastic bottles."