Current Status of Plastic Recycling in Korea

Recently, plastic waste in Korea has been recognized as a critical issue due to an increase in massive production of plastics, difficulty in disposal of waste plastics, and public recognition of toxicity in micro-plastics, etc. To resolve those problems, the regulation to reduce plastics consumption may be primarily considered but, in this case, clarification should be made on the rationales and the action plans in the regulation for individual waste plastic items. Another problem is the small capital sizes of domestic recycling companies, which leads to poor R&D capacity, low recycling yields and thus lowering values of recycling items. This adversely affects consumers' perception. The R&D toward recycling technical progress should take into account the environmental friendliness and recyclability from the early product design stages. Certainly, this should be supported in governmental policy and public action plans. In addition, by referring to advanced policies of i.e. European Union, the recycling industry should be recognized as an opportunity toward new investment & employment. If necessary, the regulation of plastic consumption through a formal evaluation process such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will also be helpful. The values of recycled plastics should be improved through the identification and elimination of harmful chemical substances potentially contained in the products.