Recycling of Beverage PET Bottle Plastic For Use As Caps on Cosmetics Packaging

Members, their roles, and reason for cooperation

Kirin Holdings Company, Limited, is proceeding with various joint development projects with FANCL Corporation (pronounced fahn-kell).

As part of both companies' efforts to protect the environment, Kirin Beverage Company, Limited, a Kirin Group company, has adopted a material made from recycled resin from caps discharged during the production of soft drinks in PET bottles for some of the cosmetics containers of Attenir Corporation, a FANCL Group company, and has been gradually switching to this material since late January 2021.

Overview

We are taking recycled resin derived from PET bottle caps and reforming it into spouts for Attenir's products which use plastic pouches (as opposed to plastic bottles). Plastic pouch products are common in Japan among many areas including cosmetics. An example is Attenir's Skin Clear Cleanse line of cleansing oils. Go to https://www.attenir.co.jp/item/1661-03 for an example.

During the recycling process, Kirin Beverage first selects and collects PET bottle caps. Then, printing is removed from the caps using special equipment, and the caps are then crushed into flakes. After that, they are dissolved and mixed to form pellets. The pellets are then dissolved, dye is added, and the recycled resin is molded to complete the process. The process can be seen at the news release link at the very bottom.

Background and Objectives

After completing the capital and business alliance between Kirin Holdings and FANCL in 2019, the duo have been actively considering ways in which they can collaborate in the design and production of containers and packaging materials with an environmentally friendly perspective in order to contribute to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and Kirin's CSV (Creating Shared Value) management. This time, we focused on the fact that caps that cannot be used as is are discharged at the initial stage of mass production of PET bottle soft drink caps, during production, and when switching products. In order to reuse the resin, we worked together to solve the problem and succeeded in applying it to this product.

Future Development

In the future, we will continue to study the application of PET bottle caps discharged from Kirin Beverage to product parts to be recycled into polyethylene parts of FANCL Group's products that use them. In addition, we plan to study initiatives for environmental impact from various perspectives, taking advantage of the product characteristics of the Kirin Group and FANCL Group companies. In addition, we will combine the know-how of the two groups in the design of cosmetics containers and the development of packaging materials to promote research and technological development aimed at reducing environmental impact.

Reference URL

https://www.kirinholdings.co.jp/english/news/2020/1104_01.pdf

*Other information available upon request.