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HWASEONG, South Korea — At a sprawling recycling facility in this farmland and industrial city, the sound of sustainability is deafening.

One of the nerve centers of the nation’s plastic recycling, the Recycling Management Corporation facility operates around the clock, its maze of conveyor belts and sorters producing a noise that could rival an airport runway.

Yet places like this recycling facility are South Korea’s 10th in this year’s “Green Future Index”Report by MIT Technology Review. World Economic Forum referenced the report on its websiteIt lists 10 countries that are models for a greener future.

As attendees gather at the World Economic Forum summit in the idyllic mountains of Switzerland this month, factories such as those run by the Recycling Administration engage in the daily effort of creating a greener planet.

Factories help South Korea achieve its ambitious sustainability goals backed by policies, messaging and sanctions.

South Korea, the size of Portugal, but with a population of around 52 million – surrounded by water on three sides and a hostile neighbor to the north, is like the rest of the planet: it’s under pressure to make better use of what’s available. resources and to do so before it’s too late.

This sense of urgency and United Nations effort Reaching an international agreement to eliminate plastic waste by 2024 may be on the minds of many at this year’s Davos summit as the ecological impacts of the pandemic become clear.

“One of the things that the pandemic brought up was the increase in the use of plastic for food deliveries and a sense of security with extra packaging all over the world.” Kristin Hughes, director of resource circularity at the World Economic Forum. “Recycling has been stopped in many countries. It was not deemed necessary.”

He said that now that the crisis stage of the pandemic has passed, it is time to change direction. We need to move away from the take-away approach,” he said.

Difficulty in consumption and disposal is evident in South Korea. A train ride through this country reveals bits and pieces of crammed homes, businesses, and farms. There is very little room for dumpsters. In fact, it is one of the largest in the country, absorbing most of the waste from Seoul and its 10 million residents. Expected to be full by 2025.

South Korea is also a major producer, exporting electronics, cars and appliances at a dizzying pace, making it stand in or near the top 10 countries for GDP. to meet them.

That’s why recycling bins and food waste bins are ubiquitous, and 32-gallon food recycling containers line Seoul’s sidewalks in much the same way cars fill the roads in the capital’s notorious traffic.

At the Recycling Management factory one afternoon recently, dozens of workers dressed in protective gear were jolting conveyor belts, sorting and positioning thousands of plastic bottles, and sending them into their second or third life.

The scorching temperatures in the beating machines removed the paper logos, then melted the plastic into small pieces known as PET or polyethylene terephthalate, which were then packed into 1,540 pounds. bags will be shipped around the world and made into products such as bottles and synthetic clothing. Together with a sister facility near Osan, 19 percent of South Korea’s total PET bottle recycling is produced daily from these massive bags (except on Sundays when the factory is closed).

“We collect, recycle and reuse,” said Im Sung-jin, vice president of Recycling Management. “But the bigger picture for me is that we do this because we have an obligation to the planet.”

This notion of responsibility was the focus of the Green Future Index, the second annual ranking of 76 economies for “progress and commitment to building a low-carbon future.” It also selected nine more countries for their efforts towards goals such as reducing fossil fuel emissions, achieving carbon neutrality or increasing sales of electric cars.

South Korea has been particularly noted for recycling. The waste management system, known as Jongnyangje, requires that food, garbage, recyclables, and bulky items be sorted into color-coded bags. The policy is strict and there are both penalties for non-compliance (up to KRW 1,000,000 or approximately $785) and rewards (up to $235) for reporting violations.

“We’re looking at what a country is doing, but also what is real and desirable, to do,” Ross O’Brien, who leads the research and writing of the Green Future Index, said in a phone call from his home in Hong Kong. . “For example, no other country has more new green patents per billion-dollar GDP than South Korea. Based on this, we believe South Korea is the most productive green innovation economy in the world.”

The report found that Singapore and South Korea are “the world’s top recycling economies” as they “routinely expand their policy programs to promote better waste management”.

The highlighting had an impact: The average Korean citizen throws away around 1.02 kilograms of household waste daily, about a third of the amount produced in 1991. The recycling and composting rate is 60 percent, one of the highest in the world. to the World Bank.

South Korea by 2030 reduce plastic waste by 50 percent and recycle 70 percent from him. And a nationwide deposit return policy that charges 300 Korean won (approximately 25 cents) for all disposable coffee cups and other disposable beverage containers — and later refund upon return — will go into effect on June 10.

As for food waste, the World Economic Forum praised South Korea for 2019, point out The country recycles 95 percent of its food waste, rising to 2 percent in 1995. Landfilling of most food was banned in South Korea in 2005, and mandatory food waste recycling was introduced in 2013 at a cost of around $6. biodegradable bags.

“This has encouraged the public to be more active in sorting waste, as they have to pay for waste bags in proportion to the amount they throw away,” said Kim Jong-min, deputy director of the waste-to-energy division at the Ministry of Environment. “Before implementing the policy, food waste clearly created a foul odor and produced large volumes of leachate in landfills.”

Yet the approach to recycling is changing here and in other countries, where it is no longer seen as a mere consumer responsibility, according to MIT’s findings, which is mirrored by other environmental groups watching Asia.

An example is South Korea’s EPR (extended manufacturer responsibility) system for packaging, which began in 2003. Korea Packaging Recycling Cooperativea nonprofit monitors and charges thousands of producers.

“Under the EPR scheme, it’s all about the design of the products, as the fees paid by manufacturers vary,” said Ma Jae Jeong, director of the resource recycling division at South Korea’s Ministry of Environment. “The more recyclable the products are, the lower the cost. The manufacturer will be able to pay up to 50 percent less for products with the highest recycling rate. This gives companies a tremendous incentive to produce more recyclable products.”

Still, South Korea fell short in other areas such as electricity generation.

“What the MIT report highlights is great because South Koreans have a high level of awareness of climate change, and we don’t have two opposing political sides arguing about reality like in the United States,” said director Kim Joojin. He is the director and founder of Solutions for Our Climate, a Seoul-based advocacy group. But at the same time, South Korea is grappling with an obsolete energy sector and is outpacing other less wealthy countries. This often contradicts its global image as a leader in green technology.”

A session at the World Economic Forum will focus on plastic pollution, following the UN Environment Assembly meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in March, where 175 countries, including South Korea, agreed to adopt a binding resolution to eliminate plastic waste pollution. end of 2024. Ms Hughes said the hope is that Davos will highlight the urgent need to build sustainable practices around the world.

“This whole ‘take, use, reuse, refill, recycle’ idea and how we continue to use and reuse it,” he said. “We are looking more and more at resource circularity. We no longer throw them all in the landfill.”