Herald Corp.’s Ecochem will provide its environmentally friendly plastics to its news media affiliates The Korea Herald and The Herald Business.

The two news outlets will deliver their newspapers in Ecochem’s biodegradable plastic bags to their readers for the first time in Korea, enabling all three Herald Corp. companies to further boost customer value.

“We hope the eco-friendly plastics used in the newspaper industry for the first time will help protect the environment,” Ecochem said in a statement.

Herald Ecochem, a wholly owned plastics subsidiary of Herald Corp., said its products, which used an eco-friendly film material, have been tested and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the American Society for Testing and Materials.

Ecochem’s plastics material have also been certified in the European Union, the company said, adding that its products can be safely used for grocery packaging.

The company developed the Eco Bio film material for the manufacturing of the eco-friendly plastics by adding a small portion of oxo-biodegradable additives into polyethylene plastic.

This will enable Ecochem’s plastics, whose quality and cost remain the same as conventional plastics, to be broken down by air and microorganisms, and to be totally degraded within a short period of two to three years.

Ecochem’s Eco Bio film material will help the plastics to remain intact for consumers to safely use for six months to a year after being exposed to air and sun.

The company expects to gain momentum with its products as it can export to the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, which currently only allows imports of disposable plastics made from oxo-biodegradable additives to protect its environment.

Ecochem’s Eco Bio film can also be used to make industrial packages, shopping bags, agricultural plastic mulch and plastic bags for daily supplies such as food and household appliances.

Herald Corp. has been repositioning itself beyond being a service provider of news and education but to be a lifestyle brand in line with its vision to protect and sustain the environment.

By Park Hyong-ki (hkp@heraldcorp.com)