In Partnership with Korean Startup Innerbottle
LG Chem announced on March 23 that it will work with Innerbottle, a domestic startup, to build a plastic eco-platform to recycle plastic cosmetics containers.
Innerbottle is an innovative startup that provides sustainable eco-friendly packaging solutions. It boasts with more than 50 intellectual property rights registered in Korea and abroad. It won the Startup of the Year title from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and a Red Dot Design Award in recognition of its innovative functions and product design.
The eco-platform established by the two companies is a structure covering the entire cycle of materials (LG Chem) → products (Innerbottle) → collection (logistics company) → recycling (LG Chem. and Innerbottle). Innerbottle makes cosmetics containers with plastic materials from LG Chem, a dedicated logistics system collects used Innerbottle containers, and LG Chem and Innerbottle recycle them.
The two companies plan to apply the platform to cosmetics containers that Innerbottle is producing in the second half of 2021, and then expand its application to food and medicine containers.
Innerbottle manufactures a cosmetics container with a balloon-shaped silicon pouch inside a transparent plastic bottle. As content is only contained in the silicon pouch, external plastic containers can be recycled without a separate cleaning process.
In addition, due to the elasticity of silicon pouches, content can also be used without any residual amount, a feature that draws attention to Innerbottle products as an eco-friendly packaging solution. Innerbottle is continuously receiving inquiries about its eco-friendly products from global luxury cosmetics giants.
LG Chem is planning to provide Innerbottle with eco-friendly plastic materials such as post consumer recycle (PCR) acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and engineering plastic (EP) and conduct joint research to replace silicon for Innerbottle pouches with LG Chem's nitrile butadiene (NB) latex. NB latex is more elastic than silicon and offers more than five times higher oxygen blocking rate, so it can offer the same function with a smaller amount, which can boost cost competitiveness. It is also advantageous in preventing content deterioration.