Welcome to LETZero Encyclopedia, an introductory series to LG Chem’s eco-friendly brand LETZero and its products. Our latest episode looked into OBP, a recycled material which uses marine waste as its raw material. Today, we zoom into the features and usages of LG Chem’s sustainable compostable materials solution, COMPOSTFUL™.

Plastic decomposed within a few months, COMPOSTFUL™

COMPOSTFUL™, LG Chem’s sustainable compostable materials solution, is a bioplastic that decomposes within 6 months to 2 years under certain conditions. The name reflects its intention to ‘quickly decompose and become the basis of sustaining fertile land.’ All customers, regardless of their background of chemistry, can instinctively understand the characteristics of the product by reading its name.

To make COMPOSTFUL™, we first need to produce compostable products like PBAT and PBS through a polyester polymerization technology. By compounding these products with bio-based compostable materials such as PLA (Polylactic Acid), starch, etc., we complete COMPOSTFUL™. Through this process, we can provide various materials that suit our customers’ needs and applications. With high flexibility, COMPOSTFUL™ is applied to film products like agricultural mulch films and disposable bags. When compounded with PLA, starch, etc., it offers processability and strength similar to those of existing plastic materials like PE and PP.

Characteristics of LG Chem’s COMPOSTFUL™

LG Chem not only holds the technology and infrastructure to produce raw materials for COMPOSTFUL™, but also offers stability in terms of quality and supply, thanks to decades of research and development in the field of plastics.

For COMPOSTFUL™, LG Chem develops customized compostable plastic recipes and runs an in-house biodegradation simulation, such as observing how long it takes for the material to decompose. This simulation suggests the possibility for certification, as the broad data accumulated through LG Chem’s years of research and development enables prediction of the speed and duration of biodegradation in just 2~3 months. As a result, COMPOSTFUL™ modeling significantly shortens the time required to develop compostable plastic products. Once they are made, the products go through an evaluation based on various standards. This confirms whether the product decomposes over 90% within 6 months to maximum 2 years, enables plants to grow when it is blended with composts after decomposition, and is safe to be applied to food packaging, etc. After the evaluation, it finally becomes COMPOSTFUL™, a compostable plastic.

Furthermore, COMPOSTFUL™ provides a customized technical service to its customers. We can prevent various customer pain points by prior simulation and verification. Through this process, LG Chem has acquired a number of global biodegradation certifications. We also comply with global food contact regulations (Korea, Europe, China), making our products more reliable for the consumers.

Finally, LG Chem can produce various products that suit customers’ needs based on our patents and compound formulation technology. We hold the technologies and infrastructure to make not just compostable plastics like COMPOSTFUL™, but also various plastic raw materials. We have obtained production efficiency by internalizing the raw material process.

Applications of COMPOSTFUL™

COMPOSTFUL™ is applied to various parts of our lives. It can make food packaging, coffee capsules, coating for paper cups, agricultural mulch films, delivery packaging, and other disposable products.

In particular, agricultural mulch films and food packaging made of COMPOSTFUL™ were displayed in Chinaplas 2024. Visitors that came to the booth could take a piece of food packaging film with them, enjoying the chance to experience our product in person. (Related post: A throwback to Chinaplas 2024 and NPE2024!)

The era that we live in is more than just ‘eco-friendly.’ It’s rather a time of ‘Green survival.’ With the expansion of global regulations for disposable products, there is a rising demand for compostable plastics around the world. The market of compostable plastics is expected to replace disposable plastics and continue its growth. From our first development of containers blended with compostable starch in 1992 to COMPOSTFUL™ in 2023, LG Chem has continued our R&D efforts for compostable products. Please keep your support for LG Chem as we carry on with researches of sustainable materials and sustainable future.

Today, we looked into LG Chem’s COMPOSTFUL™. The next LETZero Encyclopedia will come back with the story of PLH.