[The Hwankyung Ilbo] The Ministry of Environment announced on April 27 that it has signed a voluntary agreement with the 19 manufacturers of packaging materials for the use of recyclable packaging materials.

Nineteen producers involved in the voluntary agreement are part of a recycling obligation producer and produced 55% out of the 260,000 tones of PET bottles in 2016.

These producers will voluntarily improve the quality and structure of packaging materials by 2019 so that bottles of bottled water and beverages will be colorless.

If the agreement is implemented, the percentage of colorless bottles of beverages and bottled water will increase from 63.5% in 2016 to 85.1% in 2019.

In addition to color, the use of paper labels to increase recycling costs in the production of PET bottles and direct printing on the bottle are also limited.

Also, materials such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) that is difficult to be recycled, will be replaced by materials such as PET by 2020.

In the production of containers such as yoghurt bottles and shampoos other than PET bottles, parts made of materials different from the body, such as aluminum lids, are changed to the same material.

The Ministry of Environment will actively support the implementation of the agreement.

The Ministry of Environment expects that the voluntary agreement will facilitate recycling from the production stage, thereby facilitating the recycling industry and promoting the transition to a resource recycling society.

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