South Korea’s Ministry of Environment proposes amendment to add color and weight standards for evaluating recyclability of PET bottles

On December 15, 2023, the Ministry of Environment (MOE) of South Korea announced that it has formulated a draft amendment to the Evaluation Criteria for Grading the Recyclability of Packaging Materials adding color and weight standards to the Packaging Recyclability Grading System. Currently, this regulation prescribes the material and recyclability standards for each component of packaging materials (i.e., main body, label, lid, and miscellaneous materials). The proposed amendment adds color and weight standards for each of these components.

The table below shows the current rules and the major proposed changes to the grading system.