[June 9, KOREA WAVE]To coincide with World Environment Day (5th), an eco-friendly upcycling boom is occurring in the Korean food industry. Going beyond simply recycling waste, we are increasing the value and utilization of the byproducts generated during the manufacturing process by creating items with new uses.

In addition to practicing ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management, it is possible to target the MZ generation’s tendency to mean out (value consumption) and become green consumers, and the field of upcycling is likely to become more diverse.

CJ CheilJedang is continuing a project to make new use of its representative product, retort rice “Haeppan.” Recently, we have planned the “Heppan Container New Value Project”. The instant rice containers collected by CJ CheilJedang will be separated and cleaned and used as raw materials, which Cocoa Makers will turn into daily necessities. The company is building a Hebban container circulation platform by collecting Hebban containers and applying them to holiday gift set trays, etc.

In addition, we have also developed a food upcycling snack called “Excycle Crispy Chips.” The product contains about 30% food byproducts, such as broken rice and soybean okara, and the packaging material is made from recycled plastic bottles. CJ CheilJedang explained that development began with an awareness that “could we do something with it as a food by-product?”

Coffee specialty shops also use coffee grounds. Starbucks Korea recently received recognition for its trays made from coffee grounds as the country’s first “product using recyclable resources” by the Korea Institute of Environmental Industry and Technology, which is affiliated with the Ministry of the Environment. This certification is a system that went into effect at the beginning of this year, and can be obtained if 10% or more of the product’s raw materials are recycled resources that have received quality certification.

The trays are an upcycled product that contains 20% of the coffee grounds used in the store, and each tray contains the equivalent of 12 American tall-sized cups of coffee grounds. Starbucks will give away items such as a tray and a pouch made from a bag of coffee beans to customers who have a non-fungible token (NFT) that can be obtained by using a personal cup. The system is also planned to be introduced on a trial basis in the Eco Concept sales floor.

McDonald’s is also installing handrails in its sales areas using synthetic wood containing 20% ​​coffee grounds, which would otherwise be thrown away. Since coffee grounds can also be used as feed for livestock, a virtuous cycle system has been created in which coffee grounds are delivered to dairy farmers who supply McDonald’s milk and ice cream every day. Over the past two years, McDonald’s has collected 30 tons of coffee grounds.

Alcoholic beverage companies will also continue to upcycle the beer grounds produced during the beer manufacturing process. They also sell foods and cosmetics made from beer dregs. The eco hand cream, which was first released last year, contains moisturizing ingredients from beer lees. The packaging uses environmentally friendly paper material instead of plastic, reducing the amount of plastic by approximately 42%.

According to the industry, it is estimated that around 30 million tons of by-products are produced in the domestic food manufacturing process each year, and more than 30% of food is wasted each year. Of this, 70% is classified as garbage, causing carbon emissions and landfill costs.

A food industry official said, “Even if upcycling products don’t immediately lead to sales, they are meaningful because they can create new value by utilizing wasted byproducts and elicit positive environmentally friendly reactions from consumers.” “There is,” he explained.

The Korea Agricultural and Fisheries Food Distribution Corporation predicts that the global food upcycling market will grow from approximately 70 trillion won in 2022 to 110 trillion won in 2032. Based on this trend, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock and Food has selected “food upcycling using agricultural and food by-products” as one of the 10 core technology fields of food tech, and plans to promote research and development projects.

(c)MONEYTODAY/KOREA WAVE/AFPBB News