LG Chem Creates ESG Business Model in Cosmetics Market

Building a Perfectly Recyclable 'Plastic Eco Platform'
LG Chem Collaborates with Startup 'Innerbottle'
Expanding Beyond Cosmetics to Food and Pharmaceuticals Markets

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] LG Chem is creating an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) business model that encompasses plastic production, post-use collection, and recycling.

On the 23rd, LG Chem announced that it is partnering with domestic innovative startup Innerbottle to establish a 'Plastic Eco-Platform' where plastic cosmetic containers are perfectly recycled.

Innerbottle is an innovative startup providing sustainable eco-friendly packaging solutions, holding over 50 registered intellectual property rights domestically and internationally. In 2019, it was recognized for its innovative functions and product design, being selected as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) 'Startup of the Year' and winning the 'Red Dot Design Award.'

The eco-platform built by the two companies follows the structure of 'Material (LG Chem) → Product (Innerbottle) → Collection (logistics company) → Recycling (LG Chem·Innerbottle).' Innerbottle manufactures cosmetic containers using plastic materials supplied by LG Chem, collects only the used Innerbottle containers through a dedicated logistics system, and then LG Chem and Innerbottle recycle them back into raw materials.

In particular, the two companies plan to apply this platform starting with the cosmetic containers produced by Innerbottle in the second half of this year and expand its application to food and pharmaceutical container sectors.

Innerbottle produces cosmetic containers that insert a balloon-shaped 'silicone pouch' inside a transparent plastic bottle. Since only the silicone pouch contains the product, the outer plastic container can be recycled immediately without a separate cleaning process.

Additionally, due to the elasticity of the silicone pouch, the contents can be used without any residue, making it a spotlighted eco-friendly packaging solution, with continuous supply inquiries from global luxury cosmetic companies.

Most cosmetic containers use 'composite plastic (OTHER)' that is difficult to recycle to prevent deterioration of the solution, or even recyclable single materials are hard to recycle due to residual contents inside the container.

LG Chem provides Innerbottle with eco-friendly plastic materials to replace composite plastics and plans to conduct joint research to replace Innerbottle's silicone pouches with LG Chem's NB latex in the future. NB latex has higher elasticity and more than five times better oxygen barrier properties than silicone pouches, enabling the same function with less material, improving cost competitiveness and preventing content deterioration.

LG Chem expects that if products produced through the eco-platform expand to all industrial sectors using plastic containers, it will reduce recycling plastic production costs by omitting separate disposal, sorting, and cleaning processes, and achieve large-scale carbon reduction effects.

For example, 15 billion cosmetic plastic containers are discarded worldwide every year, and recycling just 10% of these, or 1.5 billion containers, through the eco-platform is expected to reduce approximately 75,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Heo Sung-woo, Vice President and Head of Global Petrochemical Business at LG Chem, said, "It is significant that a domestic large corporation and a startup have together created the world's first plastic resource circulation ecosystem, seizing market opportunities in the global mega-trend ESG sector and fostering sustainable growth."

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