LG Chem, Innerbottle Launches World’s First Plastic Resource Circulation System

LG Chem, South Korea’s largest chemical company, announced it would establish the world’s first plastic resource circulation system with Innerbottle. Innerbottle is a South Korean startup that provides innovative plastic recycling solutions and manufactures containers and packaging without residual waste. Previously, Innerbottle earned Asia Development Bank’s ‘Startup of the Year’ award and a Red Dot Design Award for its products.

Domestic and foreign firms have recently incorporated ESG management strategies into their business operations to curb severe environmental damages. As part of its ESG initiative, LG Chem partnered with Innerbottle to create a comprehensive eco-platform for recycling cosmetic containers. Moreover, LG Corporation’s chemical unit plans to continuously expand its eco-friendly practices to minimize carbon footprint and help the environment.

Dedicated Circulation System for Sustainability

LG Chem’s new business model encompasses the entire circulation system, from plastic manufacturing, container retrieval after use, and product recycling:

LG Chem will provide the plastic materials, and then Innerbottle will produce the cosmetic bottles. After consumers finish with the Innerbottle products, a logistics company will retrieve the used containers.
The logistics system will return the used cosmetic packaging to LG Chem and Innerbottle.
The two companies will recycle the used containers into raw materials to produce new bottles, creating a 100% eco-platform cycle.

The chemical manufacturer aims to supply environment-friendly plastic materials to Innerbottle and its container production to meet these goals. Additionally, the partners will establish a distribution and collection network that extensively monitors the system, from product manufacturing to retrieval. Initially, LG Chem and Innerbottle only planned to apply the plastic eco-platform circulation to cosmetic containers. However, both companies revealed that they would also expand their implementation to food and medicine packaging gradually.

Innerbottle’s Cosmetic Containers

Furthermore, Innerbottle’s products solve common cosmetic packaging problems such as excessive material use and hard-to-clean areas. Innerbottle’s containers include a specially formulated silicone pouch and a separate plastic outer bottle. Since the content is stored inside the silicone pouch, the outer bottle remains clean and available for immediate reuse without extra cleaning. In addition to this, consumers can fully expend the contents thanks to the pouch’s elasticity, leaving little to no residues.

“It is meaningful that a global conglomerate and a startup are working together to create the world’s first plastic resource circulation platform,” said Hur Sung-Woo, VP of LG Chem’s Petrochemical Global Business Development. Hur also added that the company strives to employ greener and more sustainable petrochemical business practices to help the environment significantly. Aside from creating eco-friendly petrochemical business operations, the new plastic resource circulation system can also gather potential industry pioneers’ support.

LG Chem also plans to research with Innerbottle regarding the NB Latex, which supports better elasticity than silicone. Besides the Innerbottle partnership, LG Chem has introduced other environmental action plans, including its carbon-reducing strategies and bio-based solutions.