May 14, 2025 -At the 2025 China Beauty Expo, Asia’s largest beauty trade event, SK chemicals stole the spotlight with its groundbreaking innovations in circular recycling materials for packaging, solidifying its dominance in the cosmetic container market.
Held from May 12th to 14th at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, the 29th edition of the expo drew over 400,000 visitors from more than 80 countries, featuring 3,200 exhibitors and over 10,000 brands. It stands as a leading indicator of global trends across the entire cosmetics supply chain. SK chemicals made its presence felt under the theme “Sustainable Future Solutions Within Reach,” leveraging its extensive expertise in the Chinese copolyester market to showcase commercially viable circular materials tailored for cosmetic packaging.
According to Color Masterbatch Business Network, SK chemicals unveiled a range of high-end skincare containers developed in collaboration with global cosmetic brands, incorporating recycled materials and enhancing post-use recyclability. Notable among these were lotion bottles and cream jars crafted from ECOTRIA CLARO and ECOTRIA CLARO-CR70. The former is designed for easy sorting within PET recycling streams, while the latter, a “recyclable and circular” material containing 70% post-consumer recycled content, embodies post-use recyclability. Built on a high-performance copolyester foundation, these materials cater to diverse container shapes, offering the mechanical strength and aesthetic appeal demanded by premium cosmetic packaging. They also outshine traditional PET plastics in transparency, particularly in thick-walled containers. Additionally, SK chemicals displayed sustainable materials like SKYPET CR, a recycled PET material, and ECOTRION, a 100% bio-based polyol, to meet varied packaging needs across beauty products.
Kim Eung-soo, head of SK chemicals’ Green Materials Business Division, highlighted that nearly 60,000 tons of cosmetic containers are discarded globally each year, with around 90% ending up in landfills due to the challenges of separating mixed materials. Looking ahead, the company aims to leverage depolymerization recycling technology to collaborate with partners in establishing a sustainable closed-loop ecosystem for cosmetic packaging. SK chemicals has been a pioneer in sustainable packaging, having partnered with global luxury packaging firm Toly in October 2024 to launch the CLARO CR70 cosmetic container, and earlier in 2023, signing memoranda of understanding with Estee Lauder and other enterprises to jointly explore new avenues for sustainable plastic container development.