Coway & Ministry of Environment
Recognized as a Leading Best Practice
Coway has signed a 'Voluntary Agreement on the Collection and Recycling of Waste Mattresses' with the Korea Environment Corporation, the Korea Public Resource Circulation Association, and the mattress industry at the Airport Railroad Seoul Station conference room located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
The 'Voluntary Agreement on the Collection and Recycling of Waste Mattresses,' overseen by the Ministry of Environment, is a system under which mattress manufacturers subject to the waste disposal levy receive a reduction in the levy when they achieve the collection and recycling mandatory rate set by the Ministry of Environment through the collection and recycling of mattress waste.
Coway has been leading the way in mattress resource circulation by establishing and operating a waste mattress collection and recycling system since 2018. The voluntary agreement came about as the Ministry of Environment recommended Coway's mattress collection and recycling system as a leading best practice in waste mattress resource circulation and sought to help other mattress companies establish recycling processes as well.
Coway directly operates and manages the entire waste mattress resource circulation process—collecting mattresses that customers have used and discarded, then △ receiving them at logistics centers △ delivering them to specialized recycling companies equipped with Coway's dedicated recycling systems △ cutting and shredding ∆ separating valuable materials (scrap metal, synthetic resin) △ and supplying them to end-users of waste resources.
The waste resources produced through the mattress resource circulation system are utilized by cement companies, paper manufacturers, cogeneration power plants, and district energy facilities. Going forward, Coway plans to develop measures to expand waste mattress collection and to practice resource circulation even more actively.
▲ From left, Moon Gap-saeng, Director at the Korea Environment Corporation; Kim Young-sam, Team Leader of Coway's Environmental Safety Certification Team; Kim Dong-seop, Director at the Korea Public Resource Circulation Association; and other officials pose for a commemorative photo.