Seoul mandates recycled plastic in bottled water, beverage packaging from 2026

The South Korean government decided at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to require bottled water and nonalcoholic beverage producers to use recycled plastic in packaging starting in 2026, the Ministry of Environment said.

According to the Environment Ministry, the new law requires bottled water and nonalcoholic beverage producers in Korea that produce more than 5,000 metric tons of polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, bottles annually to use recycled material in their packaging.

Out of roughly 200 beverage producers nationwide, the new rule applies to some 10 major companies, including Coca-Cola Korea, Lotte Chilsung Beverage and Jeju Development Corp., which produces mineral water brand Samdasoo. The 10 companies must meet the new mandate beginning Jan. 1, 2026.

So far, the obligation to use recycled content has applied only to plastic producers, leaving beverage companies themselves exempt. This meant that while Korea collected and processed large volumes of used PET bottles, bottling firms themselves had no requirement to purchase recycled material for food-grade packaging, preventing the establishment of a true "bottle-to-bottle" recycling system that would reduce plastic waste, carbon emissions and reliance on virgin plastics, or plastics made directly from oil and gas rather than recycled material.

In Korea, the push for "bottle-to-bottle" recycling has long stalled over safety concerns. Food-grade PET requires strict controls to prevent chemical migration or contamination, but recycled plastics were reported to often vary in purity depending on their source and processing method. Companies feared that there could be changes in taste, smell or clarity of bottles due to the usage of recycled plastics without a stable supply of certified recycled resin.

Regarding such concerns, an Environment Ministry official confirmed to The Korea Herald that governmental research has confirmed that even colored PET bottles are safe for food use if they are processed under recycling standards jointly developed by the ministry and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

"Recycled PET bottles may not always appear completely transparent, but there is no issue with their quality," said the official. The standard recycling process refers to government-approved steps such as sorting, cleaning, shredding and remelting PET bottles into pellets, followed by safety tests to ensure no harmful substances migrate into the drinks.

Meanwhile, the capital city of Seoul already began supplying its bottled tap water brand Arisu in containers made with recycled plastic in April 2023, produced with high-quality recycled PET collected from transparent bottles discarded after use.

The ministry added that the new mandate aligns with international trends.

"The European Union and Germany currently aim to raise the mandatory recycled content in PET bottles to 30 percent by 2030, while the United Kingdom plans to reach the same target by 2026," the ministry said through a press release.

The ministry added that the mandate will gradually expand to cover more companies, eventually reaching companies that produce more than 1,000 tons of PET bottles annually in the next few years.

By 2030, the ministry also aims to raise the recycled content requirement to 30 percent from its current 10 percent.

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