The Gyeonggi Agricultural & Fisheries Promotion Agency and GRICO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the 7th to carry out an upcycling commercialization project utilizing by-products from school meal programs.
GRICO is an eco-friendly plastic materials company that produces everyday household products and industrial packaging materials — such as table covers, gloves, and wraps — using discarded agricultural and marine resources including surplus grains and waste seaweed.
The Gyeonggi Agricultural & Fisheries Promotion Agency partnered with GRICO to address the burden of processing by-products generated at school meal sites through environmentally friendly solutions. As of 2024, a total of 1,997 tons of pre-processing by-products were generated from school meal programs within Gyeonggi Province. Among them, discarded lettuce will be utilized for the 2025 upcycling commercialization pilot project.
The two organizations plan to jointly promote key initiatives including:
Converting school meal by-products into high-value raw materials
Joint development of five biodegradable plastic prototypes, including mulch film, food-grade plastic bags (large and small), sacks, and scratch wrap
Evaluation of material properties and safety
Acquisition of Environmental Label Certification (EL724) and approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
Sharing project outcomes and expanding public-sector applications
They also plan to gradually expand the development of biodegradable plastics in the future.
The Gyeonggi Agricultural & Fisheries Promotion Agency will oversee public-sector responsibilities such as establishing collection and supply systems for by-products and preparing institutional support frameworks. Meanwhile, GRICO will lead the development of high-value eco-friendly advanced materials and plans to sequentially complete prototype development, performance verification, and certification acquisition by December of this year.
Choi Chang-soo stated, “We will continue to cooperate in order to build a foundation for realizing an eco-friendly circular economy.”
