South Korean retailers get into upcycling initiatives

Hyundai Department Store is selling bags made from its old banners.

South Korea’s retailers have been going beyond introducing recycling initiatives to introduce upcycled products, so as to go beyond reusing old products to turn them into value-added merchandise, Korea Bizwire reported.

For instance, Hyundai Department Store has been using old banners displayed on the outer walls of their store for advertisement and promotion to make upcycled bags, which are currently available at its online shopping portal.

The old banners went through high-temperature washing, drying and coating to be used as the outer fabric of a bag. Hyundai Department Store said that the process has already contributed to the reduction of 2.3 tons of carbon emissions.

At the same time, Lotte Chilsung Beverages collected plastic water bottles to create eco-friendly uniforms, giving them out to some 3,000 employees working at 145 local sellers. A total of 18 plastic bottles were used to make a single uniform. The company used 54,000 plastic bottles to save 707 kilograms of plastic.

In the fashion and beauty industry, LF opened L:Earth, an exclusive shop for selling bags made with truck covers and other upcycled products. Amorepacific also introduced flooring materials and furniture made with crushed plastic cosmetic bottles and ultra-high-performance concrete.