Food waste, garbage bags, environmental pollution
13,401 tons
It is the amount of food waste generated per day in my region. Only the cost of collecting and processing them is close to 2 trillion won per year. 15 trillion won in terms of money for food waste thrown away for a year. This is because there is more food waste than other countries because of the cultural characteristics of using various food materials at one meal, from side dishes to soup. Accordingly, the government introduced a pay-as-you-go system for food waste starting with a pilot project in 2011. The aim is to reduce the generation of waste itself and to collect the food waste separately and recycle it as compost or animal feed.
Such policies have been very effective. In 2013, based on Songpa-gu, Seoul, it reduced 9,000 tons of food waste and saved about 900 million won in disposal costs. Converting this nationwide, the reduction is expected to be much greater.
However, there is also a regret. Still, much of the food waste is not separated and discharged, but mixed with general waste. Toms CEO Lee Moon-hee pointed out’considerable discharge’ and’unsanitary environment’ as the causes of the problem. Unlike general waste, food waste is decayed during collection, generating odors, creating insects, and throwing it away. As a result, there are even words among husbands, ‘I am loved even if I throw away food well.’ This problem gets worse during the hot summer months.
As one of the ways to solve the problem, CEO Lee proposes an “environmentally friendly biodegradable food waste bag”. If plastic is biodegradable by microorganisms, you can put food waste in a bag and throw it away without having to open or move it. Starting from this idea,‘Sebong’ is a food waste bag that can be thrown out whole by making the skins of sausage and sundae as raw materials.
In early 2019, it was uploaded to Kakao Makers for market testing, and it became a popular item with 15,000 orders per year. Considering that each order contains at least 60 to 100 envelopes, it means that over 900,000 copies were ordered. Toms CEO Lee Moon-hee says he is not an environmental activist, but energetically says that if you change small parts of your daily life, the world can change.
Q. I think the amount of trash we throw away is huge.
A. One of the biggest problems facing modern society is garbage. In an age of abundant material, we eat and waste a lot. In particular, in Korea, garbage discharge is tremendous. They export garbage to foreign countries. This is closely related to two things,‘eating habits’ and’delivery culture’. Due to the small land and high population density, the delivery culture developed and the use of disposable products naturally increased. In addition to this, the dietary culture that adds various kinds of chants is also a drink. Because more disposables are used to hold different types of food.
Q. I am curious about the reason for making a biodegradable eco-friendly food waste bag.
A. Before starting my business, I was also an ordinary employee. I worked as an Asian market manager for a global grain company. After staying in Australia and New Zealand for 8 years, I came to Korea, and the problem of food waste caught my eyes. Because of the nature of Korean eating habits that enjoy wearing hansang, there was a lot of food waste even in the preparation process and a lot of leftovers. But at some point, the government said that the food waste is pay-as-you-go. I was curious because it was a problem-solving method that I couldn’t see abroad. But it was a little disappointing. It was because the method of discarding was too cumbersome.
Currently, food waste is disposed of in three ways according to the policies of each local government and the type of housing. Places where many households live, like apartments, have large barrels and collect them all there. Places with a small number of households, such as villas and detached houses, are placed in a pay-as-you-go bag, or collected in small garbage bins and placed in front of the house on the day of collection. But all of these three methods are uncomfortable. It’s all going to have to come back to the spoiled and smelly food waste. However, it is the most convenient way to use it in an apartment, but if you rinse the container containing the food waste again or take it into a plastic bag, it is cumbersome because you need to clean up the contents after shaking off the contents.
Then how about making an envelope with food? I thought of it. Since the grain company had seen various GMO work over my shoulder, I thought it would be possible to develop it vaguely. So, what I found was the skin that covers the sausage and sundae. But making an envelope with this was not easy. Because collagen is the main ingredient, heat bonding was not easy. At this time, we developed a patented technology that checks the melting point by adjusting the content of vegetable cellulose in consultation with researchers from the Chungbuk National University Convergence Technology Institute.
I wanted to do it now, but next was production. To make plastic, you have to take the material and pull it out of the machine, but when it’s enough to pull it out from the machine, it stretches and tears the bag too well, and it’s too stiff when it’s enough to pull it out from the machine. After wandering to more than 10 bag factories, the company succeeded in producing an eco-friendly vinyl manufacturer in Pyeongtaek. It took a year and a half from material development to actual manufacturing, and the present Sibong was born.”
Q. How is Sibong different from existing biodegradable vinyl?
A. One of the limitations of eco-friendly biodegradable bags is the ‘availability period’, and the difference is that Sibong can withstand the distribution process, sales, and usage time because this period is long. Some eco-friendly bags are only a few months old. Even if you leave it in the air, it will disintegrate and disappear. However, when left at room temperature, Sibong retains its original shape for 1 to 2 years. However, if saliva or water comes in contact, it melts and disappears within 90 days. In the case of landfill, it was designed to be disassembled within 30 days.
Q. You posted 1 billion won in sales only in the first half of this year. What do you think is the secret to popularity?
A. I think the current standard Sibong is a kind of’convenience’ product. It is convenient, but you have to pay more. Usually, it costs a few tens of won per plastic bag, but the amount is between 160 and 270 won per sheet. In terms of unit price, it is more than 10 times, but the explosive response to consumers is a proof that food waste disposal was cumbersome and uncomfortable.
By using the Sibong, three problems can be solved: ‘hygiene’, ‘inconvenient’, and ‘environment protection’. First of all, in summer, I am reluctant to open the food waste collection box because of maggots and smells, but when I put it in a bag, I throw it away in a bag to block the smell and insects. In addition, when disposing of food waste, put it in a plastic bag, and after throwing it away, the plastic bag is put back into a pay-as-you-go bag. However, if you use a stick, you can reduce the use of synthetic resin vinyl, which is the main cause of environmental pollution, without getting it on your hands. I believe that illegal dumping and mixed emissions will also be reduced based on these advantages. Most of all, it is easier to throw away.
Q. I wonder how much you think your company has grown.
A. It is important to judge how much you have grown internally, but it seems that you can better understand where you are now from the perspective of others. In that respect, I think Sibong has achieved great growth over the past year. First, a lot of transaction requests came in. Currently, it is sold only in-house and Kakao Makers, but a transaction request came in from the new platform. There were also places on the phone and asked how much I had. Looking at these things, I think it is a product that guarantees quality and product power.
The growing product lineup is also one of the factors that let you experience growth. Initially, if it was a single 3.5 liter food waste bag, the capacity has now been diversified, and the Aegis-Bong that can be applied to the sink strainer was born. There are also eco-friendly straws. The progress is slow due to lack of manpower, but disposable vinyl gloves are also being developed. As the number of products increases, requests for cooperation come from large places. Last year, a sample of eco-friendly straws was requested by a Starbucks agent in Canada.
However, there are still many mountains to overcome. I couldn’t do business with most of the aforementioned companies requesting the transaction. Because the quantity didn’t support it. It is a small company that cannot produce the desired quantity on a large platform right away. It is also because of the desire to run the business step by step without owing a large debt, but in the end, it is directly connected to the size and growth of the company. I think now is the time to’scale up’.
Q. Are there any other mountains to overcome other than scale up?
A. This is not a problem only for Sibong but it is about food waste in general, but I think it is necessary to improve awareness above all else. There are still many cases where food is disposed of together in regular pay-as-you-go bags. There are many reasons, such as being bothersome or to quickly fill up the garbage bag. But there is only one outcome. It is a greater environmental pollution. Many people know the reasons for separating and disposing of recyclables, but I don’t seem to know why food waste should be separated.
Most of the wastes placed in the general pay-as-you-go system are incinerated, but when food is burned, harmful substances such as dioxin are produced. The environmental pollution is getting worse. Minimizing food waste is the most important thing, but if that’s difficult, that’s why a culture that properly separates and disposes should be established. I think Sibong can help settle this culture. We recently released 1 capacity, but the capacity is small and it fills up quickly. You can throw away food waste every day.
Q. How do you plan to grow Sibong in the future?
A. Sibong is suitable not only for food waste, but also for general garbage bags. This is because it generates half of the calories compared to ordinary plastic bags, so it can help reduce greenhouse gases. Even if it is buried, microplastics are not generated at all. However, it is a problem that it is a little expensive. However, consumers can use eco-friendly garbage bags without changing prices if they use the 6 trillion won-sized environmental contributions managed by the government as subsidies.
The pay-as-you-go envelopes that we use unintentionally are 1 billion a year. It takes more than 500 years for each of these to break down. Wouldn’t we be less sorry for the plants and animals that share our planet just by reducing this? We can pass on a better future to our descendants.