Plastic Used To Make K-pop Products Increased By 14 Times In 6 Years, “HYBE Spent 900 Tons Per Year”

K-pop is using more and more plastic, from CDs to photocards, canvases, and packaging vinyl

According to data from the Ministry of Environment obtained by the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee member Woo Won-sik on October 22nd, plastic waste from Korean agencies increased steadily from 55.8 tons in 2017 to 145.4 tons in 2018 and reached 479 tons in 2021.

Considering the sales of K-pop albums, the actual amount of plastic used to make albums is estimated to be higher than the data from the Ministry of Environment.

Circle Chart recorded 74,195,554 album copies sold last year. Since a CD weighs 18.8 grams, plastic used on CDs alone already mounted up to 1394.9 tons. According to the report on sustainability management in July, the current largest music agency HYBE spent 894.6 tons of plastic on producing and packaging music products last year. As such, payments for waste charges and recycling contributions also increased significantly.

It is confirmed that the Ministry of Environment has not yet prepared any measures for the rapid increase in K-pop plastic. In particular, they said, “We are comprehensively regulating plastic products and items that are difficult to recycle and have not discussed improvements separately”.

In the meantime, some people in the music industry are raising concerns over plastic waste due to entertainment agencies’ marketing strategy that encourages duplicate purchases of albums and goods. 

Source: Yonhap News