LOTTE Chemical unveils production site for C-rPET,
to the domestic consumer goods companies

■ LOTTE Chemical plans to reduce reluctance to chemically recycled raw materials and establish a partnership with customers manufacturing eco-friendly products.
■ Aim to convert the existing capacity of 340KMT from virgin PET to C-rPET in the Ulsan Plants by 2030.

LOTTE Chemical invited domestic customers to the Ulsan plants and unveiled the chemical-recycled PET (C-rPET) production site.

On November 10th, a tour and Q&A session regarding recycled raw material (BHET) input facilities of C-rPET products, product packaging, and shipping facilities were given to the relevant personnel of customers from different fields in cosmetics, domestic food and beverages including LOTTE Chilsung, Cosmax, and more.

In April 2021, LOTTE Chemical announced to transform the Ulsan plant, the country's most extensive PET production base, into an outpost for its chemical recycling business, to establish a virtuous resource circular ecosystem and expand sales of eco-friendly products.

C-rPET(Chemical recycled PET, Enhanced Recycled PET) is made with a technology that can produce PET with the same quality as virgin PET through advanced separation/refining processes after chemically decomposing(depolymerizing) the waste PET and turning it back into a raw material called BHET. Colored and low-quality waste PET which are difficult to use as mechanical recycling raw materials, can also be used as a feedstock, so it is expected to contribute to the full circular economy of waste plastics.

The senior director of Aromatic Division, Lee Sang-Hyeon, who hosted the event said, “We prepared an event where the customers could see and feel the production site, reduce their reluctance to chemically recycled raw materials, and give sufficient explanations to help customers manufacture eco-friendly products”, and “LOTTE Chemical completed the renovation of the Ulsan Plant #2 with its own technology this year and completed the trial production of C-rPET. The plant conversion progress for the chemical recycling business is proceeding without any problem.”

Meanwhile, LOTTE Chemical plans to convert and produce all of its existing PET production capacity of 340KMT in the Ulsan plant from virgin PET to C-rPET by 2030. It creates more than 1 million tons of sales of eco-friendly recycled materials in 2030.