Improving Air Quality and Contributing to the Local Community
About 40 Employees Take Part in Person
Hanssem Co., Ltd. held its ‘Hanssem Forest No. 2’ creation event on Geobukseom Island in Siheung, where around 40 employees took part in a tree-planting volunteer activity.
Hanssem has continuously pursued forest creation activities in order to preserve trees—the main raw material for its furniture—and to contribute to the protection of Korea’s forest ecosystems. This past September, the company signed a business agreement with the environmental NGO Peace Forest (a registered nonprofit organization) to create ‘Hanssem Forest No. 2,’ with the goal of improving the urban environment and enhancing biodiversity. This ‘Hanssem Forest No. 2’ is an urban forest being established on a site of about 1,500 pyeong near the Sihwa Industrial Complex in Siheung, where Hanssem’s facilities are located. By restoring a space that had been covered in kudzu vines and difficult for vegetation to grow, the project aims to reduce green-space air pollution and noise while providing the local community with a nature-friendly resting area. About 40 Hanssem employees took part in the event, planting some 700 black pine trees measuring 1.5 meters in height. Additional planting on the remaining sections will be carried out by a local forestry team, and a total of 1,200 trees are to be planted at the site. From next year, Hanssem plans to expand and develop forest-tending and ecological monitoring programs in which its employees participate directly. Over the next three years, Hanssem and Peace Forest will jointly operate regular ecological management programs—including grass cutting, vine removal, fertilizing, pruning, and expert ecological monitoring—to continue their forest-tending activities.
Meanwhile, Hanssem has steadily continued its activities to protect forest ecosystems, including creating ‘Hanssem Forest No. 1,’ a nectar-source forest of about 1.5 hectares, in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, this past April. The Korean evodia trees planted in Hanssem Forest No. 1 are a nectar-source species that serves as food for honeybees and is known to help preserve the local ecosystem and maintain honeybee populations.
A Hanssem official said, “Hanssem is practicing ESG management by creating urban forests together with the local community,” adding, “We will continue to fulfill our corporate social responsibility and take the lead in creating an environment where nature and people coexist.”