S.Korea’s petrochemical players boost plastic container recycling

South Korea's major petrochemical companies have entered the sector for 100% recycled plastic containers through cooperation with food and cosmetics partners amid the forthcoming era in which products must use recycled plastic.

Petrochemical industry sources on Tuesday said the global market for plastic waste, with an estimated value of 60 trillion won ($46.4 billion), will jump 10-fold to 600 trillion won by 2050 with average annual growth of 7.4%.

Last month, SK Chemicals produced a sauce container made 100% with the recycled plastic PET jointly with domestic food giant Ottogi. Lotte Chemical Corp. teamed up with major food player Pulmuone to develop packaging using recycled materials.

LG Chem Ltd. started supplying post-consumer recycled ABS, or recycled high value-added synthetic resin, to cosmetics original design manufacturer Cosmax Inc. And in oil refining, GS Caltex is working with Nestle Korea to develop plastic coffee capsules with eco-friendly composite resin.

Only chemical recycling allows the reuse of plastic containers used to store cosmetics and food that come into contact with human skin. Plastic recycling is divided into physical recycling, in which plastics are crushed into small pieces and clumped like clay, and chemical recycling, in which raw materials are completely extracted anew under a depolymerization process in which they are decomposed to the molecular level.

"Over 75% of cosmetic containers use plastic packaging mostly made from recycled materials," an industry source said. "Due to hygiene and transparency issues, only chemical recycling is possible, so related businesses keep rising to the surface."

Government policy toward mandatory plastic recycling is also having a major impact on related businesses.

From 2025, the European Union will require that at least half of the materials used to produce plastic packaging must be recycled. South Korea this year also made it mandatory for plastic producers to use 3% of recycled raw materials and will raise the quota to 30% by 2030. 

Write to Mi-Sun Kang at misunny@hankyung.com