Amorepacific and LG Household & Health Care go green; actively participate in growing Korean refill market
With the growing concern for environmental protection, the refill service — which replaces disposable containers with durable ones — is fast gaining attention. Globally, companies such as THE BODY SHOP, L’Occitane, and Unilever have already jumped onto the refill business bandwagon.
In Korea, the government is actively encouraging the growth of the refill market. The government estimates that if 20 refills are sold per day at one refill station, 1,095 kg of plastic waste can be reduced annually, and has begun to establish regulations and encourage demonstration experiments. In response to this trend, Amorepacific and LG Household & Health Care, the “Big Two” in the Korean cosmetics industry, have launched a series of measures.
Amorepacific opened a refill station at the Amore Store Gwanggyo in October 2020. This was followed by the installation of the same facility in Amore Store Hair & Body in May 2021. Currently, two types of shampoo and eight types of body care products can be refilled on the sales floor, and the company plans to increase the number of products to 10 in the future.
LG Household & Health Care also opened L.Heritage 1947 stores equipped with refill stations in May and July 2021, the first one in the major retail chain Emart and the second one in Sinsa-dong, a cultural district in Seoul. L.Heritage 1947 is positioned as a complex facility where customers can experience LG Household & Health Care’s premium brand products as well as refillable shampoo and body care products.
In addition to expanding their store services, these two major companies are also focusing on developing sustainable technologies that directly affect their competitiveness. Amorepacific has developed a paper-based container that uses about 70% less plastic than conventional containers and can be distributed for up to 36 months. On the other hand, LG Household & Health Care has also commercialized a recyclable container with 30% less plastic in its refill station. The container is made from coconut peels, which are usually disposed of as waste, and also features a new technology that allows the label to be easily removed with water.
Aromatica, founded in 2004, was one of the first to set up a refill station at the Big 2, a vegan cosmetics brand with international certifications such as Ecocert, and a participant in the UN Global Compact. It offers a wide range of products including skin care, hair care, and body care.
Some startups are developing technologies mainly targeting the refill market, and one of the most talked-about is Innerbottle, a rubber container manufacturer founded in 2017.
Innerbottle has developed the Innerbottle, a bottle made of a special polymer material that is harmless to the human body and eliminates the effects of environmental hormones, as well as equipment to fill the contents. As the name suggests, the Innerbottle is a double-structured bottle with a balloon-like container inside, and while many existing dispensers have a shape that does not allow the contents to be dispensed all the way through, the Innerbottle can reduce the remaining amount to about 1%. The Innerbottle will be launched in 2021.
Innerbottle is also planning to release an “online refill store” by the end of 2021, where customers can order refills for a wide variety of products. To use the service, users access a dedicated e-commerce site and purchase products, which are then delivered in Innerbottle. If the user requests a refill after use, the product will be delivered again in another cleaned bottle, and the used container will be collected by Innerbottle.
This is a similar system to that of Loop’s e-commerce site, which has not yet landed in Korea but is expanding globally to Europe, the United States, and Japan. Loop Japan’s EC site, where the demonstration experiment has started, sells refillable products in glass and stainless steel containers developed by the participating companies, and Loop is responsible for collection. Innerbottle is a more advanced solution in that it not only provides and collects the container but also fills it.
Innerbottle also offers a resource recycling platform, Re-Turn. This service is a B2B platform developed in collaboration with LG Chem. Cosmetics manufacturers can use the QR code attached to the Innerbottle to track and manage the usage history, which will ultimately reduce the amount of plastic used. In addition, Innerbottle will collect containers that have been used many times and have passed their useful life. These containers are then crushed into small pieces and sold to LG Chem and other polyethylene manufacturers. Innerbottle has already begun shipping bottles and filling equipment to the UK and is negotiating with companies in the US, Canada, Hungary, and other countries for export.
Progress and bottlenecks in the Korean Refill Market
Until now in Korea, refill stores or stations have had to be staffed with nationally certified personnel and preparation managers with specialized knowledge. The purpose of this is to inform consumers of the safety of products to be refilled, such as cosmetics, on the spot. However, on September 15, 2021, the regulation was partially abolished, and four types of products (shampoo, conditioner, liquid soap, and body cleanser) can be refilled and sold at refill stores without the presence of a preparation supervisor.
On the other hand, some media reports say that even with the removal of regulations, it will take some time for the refill culture to spread in Korea. In mid-October 2021, Beauty Economy, a media outlet specializing in beauty, published an article titled “Cosmetics refill stations have yet to meet expectations”. It said, “(Customers) are sympathetic to the purpose of the service, but they tend not to actually purchase. Many of them ask questions because they don’t know how to use it, and others are afraid to give us the container,” the article quoted a staff member as saying. Without a more widespread understanding of refills and an increase in the number of stations, it is likely that it will take quite some time before more people choose to refill.
Nevertheless, as far as the global trend toward sustainability is concerned, the refill market is sure to expand in Asia, including Korea, in the near future. The key to market growth will be to promote ideas and innovations from the private sector and to link them well with government policies, as the number of players, the diversity of products, and the awareness of refill culture itself pose challenges.
Text: Ching Li Tor
Original text (Japanese): Jonggi HA
