SK Lubricants said Wednesday that it has begun making containers from recycled plastics for its top-selling automotive lubes – part of its ongoing efforts to reduce resource consumption.
The Seoul-based company was already using recycled plastics for some containers but said it is extending that initiative both to further its goal of becoming a more sustainable business and because such practices are popular with customers.
“After launching the Zic Zero line that has been using recycled containers for a year, SK Lubricants found out that the market and its customers have great demand for eco-friendly products,” the company said in a news release. “This motivates the company to expand to more lines, and this will greatly raise the company’s total use of eco-friendly containers.”
SK said that last year it used approximately 21 metric tons of recycled plastics to make containers for Zic Zero, a passenger car engine oil. This week it began making recycled containers for higher volume products, including Zic X7 and Zic X700, which together account for 30% of its finished lubricant sales. As a result, the company expects to recycle 100 tons of plastics this year.
SK called that equivalent to 5 million half-liter water bottles.
SK said its containers are made of recycled polyethylene and that bottles, caps and labels are made of the same material, which should make it easier to recycle those containers, too. The containers have been granted sustainable product certification by Underwriters Laboratories, it added.
SK said it will continue adding more lubricants to its list of products packaged in recycled containers and that it is also continuing work to reduce carbon dioxide emissions generated in its manufacturing of various products.