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| Dongwon F&B's label-free water bottles / Courtesy of Dongwon F&B |
Dongwon F&B, which manufactures a wide variety of popular food products, is strengthening its environmental, social and governance (ESG) management policies to meet heightened corporate responsibilities that are increasingly going beyond providing affordable products to customers. One solution is to remove labels from its products in order to facilitate recycling.
To achieve that goal, the company said Monday that it has been pursuing sustainable management activities such as reducing plastic usage and promoting in-house campaigns to increase awareness of eco-friendly activities.
As part of such efforts, Dongwon F&B, well known for its hearty packaged stews and canned tuna, recently began selling water in label-less plastic bottles called Dongwon Saem Mool Lable Free.
"The PET water bottle is an eco-friendly product that can be separated right after drinking without the hassle of removing plastic labels," the company said.
Dongwon F&B said it hopes the product will let more customers take part in eco-friendly activities.
"Our intention is to have customers participate in recycling and reduce plastic waste just by using our products," the firm said.
To engrave its product name on the bottle, Dongwon F&B uses laser printing techniques. The PET water bottle is easy to recycle because it does not use ink during the printing process. The firm said it will expand the lineup of label-free products ranging from 500-mililiter to 2-liter bottles.
Dongwon F&B said it also reduced the weight of PET bottles. For a 500-mililiter PET bottle, Dongwon F&B reduces plastic usage by 26 percent to 14 grams from 19 grams, which is the lightest in the industry. The company plans to reduce the amount by 4 more grams this year. It added such efforts began in 2013 when the company signed an agreement with the environment ministry to reduce the weight of PET bottles.
The company is expanding the use of label-free bottles not only in mineral water, but also in tea drinks. In May, Dongwon F&B launched "Eco Bori," a barley tea that does not have a label on the container.
Eco Bori reduces plastic vinyl usage and improves recycling efficiency. Mandatory product indications such as brand name, expiration date and nutritional ingredients are marked on the packaging box, the firm said.
The weight of Eco Bori's PET bottles has been reduced by 25 percent by cooperating with Dongwon Group's packaging affiliate, Dongwon Systems.
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| Dongwon F&B's plastic container-free seasoned seaweed products / Courtesy of Dongwon F&B |
In addition, Dongwon F&B reduced the amount of plastic used in gift sets of its canned food by 10 percent. Also, Dongwon F&B was able to reduce 27 tons of plastic per year by eliminating plastic containers in its popular dried laver.
To increase awareness about preserving our environment, the company also has been conducting an in-house campaign called "Eco Challenge." Dongwon F&B has been pursuing a so-called "5R" vision ― reduce, replace, redesign, recycle and restart ― as part of its ESG measures.
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