SKC

● GreenFill Box, using biodegradable LIMEX containers to allow customers to buy detergent refills, has been launched at E-MART24’s R Yongsan TriSquare branch.

●​ Containers are made from a new material that combines a biodegradable polymer (PBAT) and natural limestone to help achieve zero plastic. 

On March 24, SK TBM Geostone, an investee company of SKC (CEO Woncheol Park) specializing in biodegradable materials, announced that it had launched a service called GreenFill Box in collaboration with E-MART24, a prominent South Korean convenience store company, and a marketing specialist Plan Devenir. GreenFill Box is an eco-friendly refill station in vending machine format.

The GreenFill Box, installed at E-MART24’s R Yongsan TriSquare branch in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, is a service that allows customers to easily purchase laundry or dishwashing detergent in a refillable container made of SK TBM Geostone’s biodegradable LIMEX. After buying the container just once, customers can repurchase detergent as many times as needed, enabling eco-friendliness and more reasonable consumption.

Biodegradable LIMEX is a new material that combines PBAT(Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate), a biodegradable material that replaces existing plastic resin, and limestone, a natural ingredient. Under certain conditions, it completely biodegrades and returns to nature. Through this, E-MART 24 GreenFill Box can go one step further to realize ‘Zero Plastic’ compared to conventional refill stations that recycle regular plastic containers that do not decompose in landfills or incineration.

Previously, in 2021, SKC established SK TBM Geostone through a joint venture with TBM, a Japanese company that owns LIMEX technology. SKC has been promoting the commercialization of biodegradable LIMEX. SK TBM Geostone entered the eco-friendly paint container market by signing an MOU for developing biodegradable and eco-friendly paint containers with Samwha Paint, a leading domestic paint manufacturer in South Korea, in January of this year.

Additionally, SKC is working to commercialize high-strength PBAT, a biodegradable material developed by its investee company Ecovance, using its own technology. Ecovance and SK TBM Geostone are planning to build a PABT manufacturing facility with an annual capacity of 70,000 tons, the world’s largest for a single site, and a LIMEX production facility with a capacity of 36,000 tons per year, respectively, aiming for operation in 2025.

An executive from SK TBM Geostone said, “It will be easier to practice eco-friendly consumption by reducing plastic usage as consumers can use biodegradable containers for detergent products, which comprise a high proportion of plastic waste generated from households. [End]

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[SKC’s investee company SK TBM Geostone, in the biodegradable materials business, launched the GreenFill Box, an eco-friendly refill station in vending machine format. An employee is introducing a container for the GreenFill Box, made of SK TBM Geostone’s biodegradable LIMEX, at E-MART24’s R Yongsan TriSquare branch.]