[Game Changer] Trash talk: Reco wants to become Korea's WM

Reco's UpBox, a Korean waste management startup, aims to boost resource circulation and help companies achieve carbon neutrality by providing transparent data-driven waste solutions, with plans for future global expansion.

Reco CEO Kim Keun-ho poses for a photo with an UpBox food waste bin at the company's office in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Nov. 21. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Have you ever wondered where the plastic cup you threw into a recycling bin last week actually ended up?

Maybe not, but perhaps it's worth considering.

In Korea, a country with few natural resources and just a quarter the land size of California, recycling is a chore that many people don't think twice about, both at the home and office. With the growing amount of waste being produced, Korea's waste management market size is estimated to reach 23.7 trillion won ($18.3 billion) by 2025 from 15.8 trillion won in 2017, according to a Shinyoung Securities' report.

Still, the fate of the discarded waste after trucks whisk it away remains a mystery to most.

Reco, a waste management startup, aims to shed light on the blind spot to make the process more transparent and therefore boost the circulation of resources.

“We often throw away our trash and assume that since we've done a good job of sorting the materials, it's going to be somehow well taken care of; [but] we have no way of knowing if it's really being recycled, or actually just going to an incinerator or a landfill,” Reco CEO Kim Keun-ho said.

Such a lack of transparency has, in the past, enabled questionable and even illegal waste disposal practices, Kim said.

Founded in 2018, Reco tracks and manages waste thrown away at companies to ensure it is “connected to the best recycling value chain possible,” and shares its data with its clients.

“I believe we are contributing to achieving carbon neutrality by making sure we recycle as much waste as possible, which might have been landfilled or incinerated otherwise,” Kim said.

Enterprises are Reco’s primary target as household waste in Korea is handled by the local government offices, while businesses need to separately dispose of their industrial waste through private contractors.

Reco’s comprehensive waste management service, UpBox, encompasses all stages of the disposal process — from collection, delivery and recycling to automated data monitoring — for food waste, recyclables and non-recyclables.

Reco has some 3,500 clients including Samsung Welstory, CJ Cheiljedang and Parnas Mall as of December. The company finished series B financing in early 2023 and has raised over 35 billion won so far.

The Korea JoongAng Daily sat down with Kim at the startup’s headquarters in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, in November. The following are edited excerpts from the interview.

Q. Could you give an overview of your company?

A. Every business operation generates waste, yet there has been no service available to properly manage those before. Reco’s UpBox enables cleaner and more effective waste management for enterprises.

We set up a collection point that serves each operation’s needs, and dedicated vehicles deliver the waste to the processing plants. Relevant data, such as the amount of waste generation, can be monitored in real-time through our app or website.

Can you give any specific example of Reco’s work improving the waste management experience? What makes Reco stand out from the rest? Our recent works at major festivals are some noteworthy examples.

Our goal is to collect, manage and eventually recycle high-quality resources at places with huge crowds that therefore generate a lot of waste. With the Covid-19 restrictions removed, outdoor events and festivals have been coming back, which resulted in a huge amount of waste being disposed of in a short period of time.

But we often see temporary waste bins set up at such festivals overflowing with garbage, some just left on the ground near the collection point.

So we’ve adjusted our UpBox Station model, a waste collection point, for big festivals to reclaim resources. Starting with Korea University’s summer festival, we've provided the service at Yesan Market Samguk Festival, the 2023 Global Barbecue Festival in Hongsung, and more recently, during a K League match.

There have been no similar services catering to such temporary, waste-intensive occasions before. One interesting thing we saw during those events was that because our waste collection point facilitates sorting recyclable materials into respective bins, parents would come with their children to teach them how to recycle as if playing a game. By improving the user interface of recycling areas, we’ve provided a new customer experience.

You previously worked as a trader in the United States. What made you establish a waste management startup?

During my years in the United States, I got to stay in various cities. And wherever I went, I noticed the same logo all around — near streets, buildings and houses — which, I later found out, was that of Waste Management (WM), the largest waste disposal company in the United States.

But Korea, despite being a leading country in recycling, had no similar service provider in the resource circulation sector. The fact that no service or company in the industry is a household name in Korea seemed like a significant opportunity and need for new business.

While we had the idea to become Korea's equivalent of the U.S.-based WM, we also hope to be a future-oriented waste management service provider with a bigger focus on digital transformation and eco-friendliness.

What do you think was the reason why there was no recognizable brand or company in the waste management market in Korea before?

The waste management market is fragmented by regions and types of waste because the industry requires a license to enter. Every region has its own industrial strength, which means the type and composition of corporate waste varies by region. So in order for a waste management service provider to expand its business into a new region, it needs to invest a lot of resources.

What's more, this is a 3-D — dirty, dangerous and difficult — industry after all. And I think we were lucky enough to get into the market first and seize the opportunity.

Do you have a plan for overseas expansion?

We are looking to expand into the global market, though it may not happen soon. Koreans are more keen on recycling compared to other countries, and the government also has stricter regulations on waste management. I suspect that a service that proves successful in a more strictly regulated market would have a bigger potential for expansion, especially in a comparatively more flexible market.

How did the growing global interest in climate tech and sustainability impact your business? Waste used to be considered something that should be quickly thrown away with as little cost as possible, so the price has been the deciding factor in choosing a service provider.

But cost is no longer the only quality that clients using the UpBox service take into account. They are now growing to consider measures to improve the recycling rate or have a hassle-free experience in waste disposal. We believe such a trend is driven by a growing awareness of minimizing environmental impact and the need for a proper waste management service.

What do you think needs to be improved to promote resource circulation? I believe society as a whole needs digital transformation in waste management. We need a data and platform-based solution that enables an efficient, transparent process for waste generators, carriers and handlers in the market, which up until now has been outdated and inefficient.

I wish everyone involved in the industry could work based on data, and those who dispose of waste could make decisions based on data.

By spearheading the digital transformation in the waste management market, Reco and UpBox will set a new standard for the opaque market.

What is Reco’s ultimate goal? As we have expanded the types of waste we handle, we will focus on stabilizing the service. We will continue to expand the types of waste we handle as well; as businesses produce multiple types of waste, there is a strong preference and higher satisfaction for services that can handle all types of waste.

Consequently, Reco aims to become a new standard for waste management by systemically recycling any type of waste for the sustainable business of our clients, improving inefficiencies in the market and leading the digital transformation.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]