[Photo]: Commemorating the signing of the MOU between Hwang Min Jae (Left), director of LOTTE Chemical's Advanced Institute of Technology,

and Lee Sang Yoon (Right), director of Pulmuone's Institute of Technology.

■ Entered work MOU for developing packages using chemically recycled materials at the Pulmuone Technology Institute in Osong, Chungbuk in the afternoon of the 21st
■ Plans to first apply in the Pulmuone tofu containers from the second-half of the year and plans to expand to beverage and salad dressing caps, etc.
■ Expanding cooperation to develop packages meeting the eco-friendly product demands of customers and for ESG management

Korea’s leading chemical company LOTTE Chemical and the leading ESG food company Pulmuone announced that they will develop packages using recycled materials.

In the afternoon of the 21st at the Pulmuone Technology Institute in Osong, Chungbuk, LOTTE Chemical Institute of Technology Director Hwang Min-jae and Pulmuone R&D Center Director Lee Sang-yoon met to sign an MOU for developing eco-friendly packages and agreed to promote joint businesses.

As the realization of carbon neutrality and ESG management has become a social issue, the two companies agreed to cooperate in developing eco-friendly food packaging using chemically recycled materials. It will be carried out together with ▲cooperating in development of eco-friendly package products ▲stable supply of materials used for eco-friendly packages ▲expanding commercialization of products using eco-friendly materials ▲and other areas needed for both institutes.

Chemical recycling is different from physical recycling that simply melts and recycled plastics, but chemically decomposing plastic to recover clean raw materials such as polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) using pyrolysis oil in the form of oil. It has high recycling rates and can help with the circulation of resources, and is thus a waste plastic recycling technology that has recently been drawing a lot of attention.

Through the cooperation with Pulmuone, LOTTE Chemical expects to not only create demand for recycled raw materials, but also quickly identify the needs for eco-friendly products, and thereby contribute even more to developing packages that meet the eco-friendly product demands of customers and to ESG management.

With this MOU, Pulmuone will gain a stable supply of raw materials for developing eco-friendly packages and it is expected that they will further accelerate development and commercialization of eco-friendly food packages using chemically recycled materials.

LOTTE Chemical Institute of Technology Director Hwang Min Jae said, “LOTTE Chemical will strive in R&D and commercialization of eco-friendly plastics including collaboration for eco-friendly packages with Pulmuone and identify the resource circulation trends based on the eco-friendly slogan of ‘Every Step for Green’ to expand relevant businesses.”

Pulmuone Technology Institute Director Lee Sang Yoon commented, “We expect synergy for the development of the food industry through the cooperation for developing eco-friendly packages of our two companies,” and added, “Pulmuone will continuously develop eco-friendly materials and packaging that can help the global environment based on the mission of a ‘Company that makes a healthy tomorrow for people and the world with good food.”

Meanwhile, LOTTE Chemical proclaimed 『Every Step for GREEN』 last year and plans to increase the scope of eco-friendly recycled materials business to 1 million tons by 2030, while also systematically managing the impact and risks of raw materials, its sales, use and disposal, etc. on the economy, environment and society.

In particular, chemical recycling technologies can prevent incineration and burying of waste plastics that were difficult to recycle, thereby reducing carbon emissions and respond to the demand of customers that prefer eco-friendly and carbon reduced packaging materials, containers, etc.