Lotte Confectionery Develops Eco-Friendly Packaging 'Kakao Panjee' with Hansol Paper

Lotte Confectionery products using Kakao Panjee.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Lotte Confectionery announced on the 17th that it has partnered with Hansol Paper to develop an eco-friendly paper packaging material called ‘Cacao Panjee,’ which contains components from cacao fruit.

Cacao Panjee is a paper packaging material jointly developed by Lotte Confectionery, Lotte Central Research Institute, and Hansol Paper. It is an eco-friendly paper made by processing byproducts of cacao fruit, discarded after being used as chocolate raw material, into powder form and mixing it with recycled pulp.

The two companies started a joint project to develop Cacao Panjee in June last year. Through collaboration, they overcame initial challenges such as cacao oil compatibility issues and productivity decline, and developed the new packaging material within seven months. ‘Cacao Panjee’ was applied to bundle products of two spring season planned items (Gana Pinkberry, Crunky Pinkberry) and is expected to be expanded to various products in the future.

Lotte Confectionery has become able to efficiently recycle cacao byproducts generated during production, while Hansol Paper has been able to replace wood powder, an essential raw material used in paper production processes, by recycling discarded resources.

Recently, Lotte Confectionery has been accelerating its eco-friendly management by promoting the ‘Smart Recycle’ project, which expands eco-friendly packaging. Hansol Paper is also engaging in ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management by establishing and managing a resource circulation system from raw material production to waste disposal and recycling. It is actively developing eco-friendly products, such as ‘Protego,’ an eco-friendly paper packaging material that can replace plastic.

A Lotte Confectionery official said, “As customers’ interest in eco-friendly consumption increases, we wanted to develop packaging using cacao byproducts generated in the factory,” adding, “Packaging chocolate again with packaging made from cacao shells is expected to generate marketing effects that even stimulate customer interest.”

A Hansol Paper official stated, “We will continue to release eco-friendly products with higher cacao byproduct content through technological development, and simultaneously expand various products such as cacao-containing fancy paper to become an eco-friendly company that maximizes the use of discarded resources,” adding, “In addition, we plan to accelerate research and development of eco-friendly materials such as nanocellulose, PE-Free products, and 100% natural pulp wet wipes.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.