Where do large banners announcing department store events go? ‘It is largely discarded.’ Disposal is the next step since it is useless. A single large banner hanging on the outer wall of the department store weighs about 27 kg. Colored banners made of thick fabric that must withstand the wind and rain turn their backs on the world. Banners like that are hung all over the country, at every store.
If you collect 20 large banners, it will be about 540 kg. If this is not disposed of, 2981 kg of carbon emissions can be reduced. Things like the disposal of banners, you can pretend you don’t know and live, but you have to find a way in the ‘era of climate crisis’. maybe i should do something There are people who make big and small attempts with this kind of heart.
That’s how Lotte Department Store and upcycling specialist ‘Nucak’ joined hands and decided to do ‘something’. Nuqak is an upcycling company that started in Spain and sells new banners into wallets and bags. Lotte Department Store entrusted the upcycling of banners to Nukkak.
It was in June of last year that Lotte Department Store began to upcycle banners in earnest. Banner upcycling has been expanded to cold bag upcycling over the course of about a year. What happened in the past year until banners and cold bags for wrapping holiday gifts changed to card wallets, small bags, picnic mats, and cold bags?
On the 16th, I met with the Lotte Department Store’s ESG team and Nuqak’s staff at the headquarters of Lotte Department Store in Jung-gu, Seoul to hear their stories.
Lotte Department Store’s ESG team and Nuqak employees are showing upcycled goods with banners and cold bags at the headquarters of Lotte Department Store in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 16th. Lotte Department Store ESG Team Leader Hwang Hye-jin, Nuccak Ahn Soo-bin MD , Lotte Department Store ESG Team Leader Yun Jae-won, Nuccak Koh Myeong-jin, and Jo A-ram (from left). Reporter Kwon Hyeon-gu
“When we started the ‘ RE : EARTH campaign’ in June of last year, there was talk of collecting banners and making something. We decided to collaborate with Nukkak to make a gift product. We came to a consensus to make products that can be used in real life, not plausible upcycling. ”
Upcycling refers to recreating discarded resources into new products by adding designs or changing the way they are used. Large banners were made into card wallets and small bags and presented as free gifts. Upcycling products were well received as they sold out.
“Based on 20 banners removed from stores in the metropolitan area, the total weight is about 540 kg. If you don’t dispose of it, you can reduce 2981 kg of carbon emissions. This is equivalent to planting 386 pine trees in one year. If we do it twice a year in the first half and second half of the year, that’s equivalent to planting about 800 trees.” (Leader Hwang Hye-jin)
Banner upcycling goes through this process. In the middle of the night when the operation is over, a large banner (10m wide, 11m long) is removed from the exterior wall of the department store where the lights are turned off. After completing its mission, the banner is loaded onto a truck and moved to the Nookak office.
When the banners are gathered like that, ‘wash your hands’ first. To minimize water use, human wiping reduces contaminants. Cut after high-temperature and high-pressure washing. Employees with scissors cut the fabric into shapes and sizes that are good for upcycling.
The press machine is used only for the work of printing according to the design. Usually, it is said that less than 500 card wallets and 100 bags come out of one banner.
Lotte Department Store is introducing upcycling goods in collaboration with upcycling company Nookak, starting the ‘ Re : Earth ‘ campaign as part of ESG management. Large banners and insulated bags have been reborn as card wallets and bags. Courtesy of Lotte Department Store
The process of transforming a large banner into a card wallet and a cold bag into a small bag was not easy. I asked for an unforgettable moment. Myeongchan Koh, head of Nuccak, cited ‘the first time Nuccak was working on an insulated bag upcycling’. It was in October of last year.
Ko was on a business trip in Spain, where the head office of Nuqac was located. Of course, at that time, about 3,800 cold bags collected from Lotte Department Store were returned to the Nukkak store. He got this message. “Insulated bags from Lotte Department Store are piled up in stores. It is mayhem.”
Looking at the cold bags that filled one corner of the store, I couldn’t draw a picture. I was in a hurry because I had to do something new that I hadn’t experienced before. Goh said, “I just wanted to hurry back and find a way.”
Upcycling goods made of banners received a better response than expected. Lotte Department Store gained strength from the favorable response and expanded the material to insulated bag upcycling. MD An Soo-bin, who plans products at Nukkak, also recalled with a deep impression the day when cold bags were piled up in the store.
“He was working in the office when he got a call saying, ‘Could you come down with the scissors for a minute’. It’s not uncommon for us to put our staff into cutting with scissors, whatever their job is. But it’s my first cold bag… . (Laughter) Outside the store, there were so many cold bags piling up that I was worried, ‘Can I go in?’, and I remember slicing with scissors all day.”
Arranging large banners from the outer wall of Lotte Department Store. Courtesy of Lotte Department Store
I asked a sensitive question. The question was whether the upcycling process also creates a carbon footprint. Carbon emissions that can occur in the process of manufacturing products by eco-friendly companies are often pointed out ironically.
“We do a lot of manual work to reduce our carbon footprint. We have about 15 employees, and they are all really good at scissors. It is difficult to cut it with a machine, because you have to cut it with skill so that you can produce upcycling products.메이저놀이터 For sewing, I use a sewing machine. 80-90% of our products are made with upcycling materials.” (Ko Myung-chan)
If people do the work instead of machines, carbon emissions will be reduced, but costs will increase. This is because the labor cost required for manual work is reflected in the unit price of the product. So I asked another sensitive question, about money. It costs a lot, but I asked if it could be a sustainable business.
“Cost is an important issue even in department stores. The reality is that upcycling is expensive. Still, I think ‘ to survive as a successful ESG company, you have to invest money’. As a large company, we must constantly think about the impact it has on society. Lotte Department Store has a willingness to continue investing to respond to the climate crisis .
” Yoon Jae-won, team leader, said, “It is amazing to invest a considerable amount of money every year and continue to run the same program even if no one knows about it.”