A campaign aimed at building a resource-circulation system for waste plastic and spreading that culture will begin producing a new upcycled item with new partners.
E-Mart said on the 23rd that it had signed a memorandum of understanding for the Upcycling Bench Project with Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) and TerraCycle Korea.
As part of the campaign known as 'Gapljiu,' short for 'Bring Plastic, Protect Our Sea,' about 1.3 tons of collected waste plastic will be turned into upcycling benches. The benches will first be installed at KTX Yongsan Station, with plans to gradually expand to other locations.
Launched in 2018 by E-Mart, TerraCycle, and Procter & Gamble Korea, Gapljiu is now in its ninth year and has grown into one of South Korea's leading resource-circulation campaigns, with retailers, manufacturers, and public institutions all taking part. It began with the installation of plastic collection bins at E-Mart stores nationwide in 2018 to collect waste plastic, and each year it has expanded its participating organizations and activities. The campaign has also carried out coastal cleanup efforts and marine environmental protection education. From 2018 through March 2026, E-Mart collected a total of 64 tons of plastic through collection bins installed at stores nationwide. Rather than being simply discarded, the collected plastic was upcycled into 21,000 children's traffic safety reflectors, 13,500 foldable shopping carts, 3,000 tongs, and other items, which were donated to local communities. Some of the collected plastic has also been recycled into E-Mart shopping bags and continues to be used in stores today.
Lee Chang-yeol, head of E-Mart's ESG team, said, "It is especially meaningful that the resource-circulation activities customers joined through the 'Gapljiu' campaign are being turned into upcycling benches and installed at Yongsan Station, where many citizens can use them." He added, "We will continue to expand the value of resource circulation into everyday spaces and keep putting ESG management into practice."
Kim So-hyeong, Sportschosun compact@sportschosun.com
