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Aixa Ritz
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Mr. Myungjin Kim, company’s senior manager, told us that unfortunately excess paper is thrown away and seldom gets recycled. CoopOnre is helping to mediate this problem by taking some of it and processing it into something sought after, profitable, and sustainable. Postcards that serve as both gifts and viable seed packets.
The company is innovative by promoting a new form of up cycling. They have combined nature and commodity by producing an eco-friendly method of creating postcards. The procedure for creating their postcards is non-toxic. Mr. Myungjin Kim explained that CoopOnre produces their postcards by combining traditional (Hanji) papermaking and water culturing methods. During the papermaking, seeds are mixed into the paper mash. The inks they use are also non-chemical, instead, they use bean inks. This innovation applies to at least three SDG goals, Sustainable cities and communities, Responsible consumption & production, and Life on land. Usually it is the urban environments producing and wasting the most paper, this innovation can be applied in cities to change the way we think about paper waste and hopefully refine our recycling infrastructure. Also it can promote responsible consumption by making people aware of recycling. Whenever someone picks up a CoopOnre postcard they will think of both the message they were sent and the importance of living sustainably. Life on land will also improve because if we are able to apply this principle of up cycling paper in more areas of business less of it will be carelessly discarded.
Mr. Myungjin Kim explained that this innovation came from the company's belief that we should appreciate what Mother Nature gives us. By employing a combination of technology, traditional papermaking techniques, and seed production. The company provides its customers with a way of sending a heartwarming message to a friend or loved one while also promoting sustainability and responsible consumption.
In Korea, 120 tons of paper are thrown away annually without ever getting recycled. If a ton alone were to be recycled it would be equivalent to saving 20 trees, 28 tons of water, and 4,200 W/H of electricity. Mr. Myungjin Kim explained that in the short-term, the company is making a profit from their sales and creating jobs by employing people to perform tasks such as designing what will be put on the cards. Long-term, however, this company may very well be changing the way we mindlessly throw away paper. By 2020, Mr. Myungjin Kim explained, the company predicts to be making 5 million dollars a year.
The innovation benefits the business because it goes hand in hand with Korean culture. In South Korea, it is very common for people to grow plants, flowers, and trees in the house. Being that the postcards have seeds in them and have the ability to later grow into plants has proven to be quite a lucrative business model.
The company, Mr. Myungjin Kim explained, provides the community and the environment with a way of recycling the paper scraps produced by schools, corporations, banks, and other organizations. Rather than having paper disposed of in landfills, oceans, and rivers, it gets processed into a biodegradable product.
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Myungjin Kim, Senior Manager
CoopOnre, a company based in South Korea, makes biodegradable postcards from the leftover paper businesses produce. Some of the postcards are made with seeds in them that when planted sprout seedlings.