SK Chemicals Turns Waste Banners Back into Banners...Building a Circular Economy

Open Call for Supply Chain Ideas with Ministry of the Interior and Safety and Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Expanding a Nationwide Resource Circulation Ecosystem Based on Chemical Recycling

SK Chemicals announced on the 24th that it will participate in the '2026 Local Extinction Overcoming Idea Solverton' project promoted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and will hold an open call for ideas to establish a nationwide supply chain for the collection, pre-processing, and resource utilization of waste banners. Applications will be accepted until August 3.

Poster for the idea competition on building a circular economy supply chain for discarded banners, part of the '2026 Overcoming Regional Extinction Idea Solvathon' in which SK Chemicals is participating.

The 'Local Extinction Overcoming Idea Solverton' is a program in which the government, corporations, and local communities collaborate to discover solutions to local issues and support business development.

The purpose of this contest is to identify collaborative partners and secure new business models to establish a circular economy system utilizing waste banners generated in local regions. Existing banner and recycling companies, social economy organizations, startups, as well as institutions and organizations, are all eligible to participate and propose a variety of ideas, including ▲ establishing collection systems for waste banners ▲ operating regional hubs ▲ business models for pre-processing ▲ community-linked projects, and more.

Outstanding proposals will receive a Presidential Award from the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a prize of 1 million won. Regardless of the awards, SK Chemicals plans to review proposals with high business potential and feasibility and seek cooperation in the waste banner collection and supply chain construction process in the future.

The company plans to use this contest as an opportunity to establish a nationwide resource circulation supply chain encompassing collection and aggregation, pre-processing, and resource utilization of waste banners, and to expand a local recycling ecosystem involving regional small and medium-sized enterprises and social economy organizations.

Through this initiative, SK Chemicals aims to realize a circular economy model by recycling waste banners into its chemically recycled PET material, 'SKYPET CR', and then reusing it as raw material for banners.

According to the Ministry of Environment, about 6,000 tons of waste banners are generated annually in Korea, but approximately 70% are either landfilled or incinerated. Despite being made of polyester (PET), most waste banners are not recycled due to insufficient systems for collection, pre-processing, and utilization.

An Jae-hyun, CEO of SK Chemicals, stated, "A circular economy model that reuses waste banners as new banners cannot be realized by a single company's technology alone," adding, "We will collaborate with various stakeholders, including local communities, small and medium-sized businesses, recycling specialists, and social economy organizations, to build resource circulation systems tailored to local characteristics."

SK Chemicals has also established a chemical recycling production base in Shantou, China, where it has verified resource recycling technologies for textile-based waste, including waste banners. Its chemical recycling technology, based on depolymerization, breaks down polyester-based waste such as waste banners into molecular-level raw materials to produce new PET, addressing the quality degradation challenge of mechanical recycling during repeated cycles.

The company is also expanding municipal collaboration to establish collection and recycling systems for waste banners by signing cooperation agreements with local governments, including Gunsan City, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Sejong City, Gangneung City, Cheongju City, Naju City, Changwon City, and Seoul.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.