Aju Business Daily

 

SEOUL -- Hansol, a major paper company in South Korea, has developed an eco-friendly paper packaging material by recycling the by-product of cacao beans, which are discarded after being used as chocolate ingredients, in cooperation with Lotte Confectionary. The packaging material will be used for wrapping chocolate products.

Hansol said in a statement on February 17 that it has processed cacao bean waste into powder and mixed them with recycled pulp to make an eco-friendly paperboard in a joint project that began in June 2020. It was a win-win project. For Lotte Confectionery, cacao byproducts generated during production can be efficiently recycled, while Hansol can recycle discarded resources to replace an essential ingredient for paper production.

"Through continuous technology development, we will continue to release eco-friendly products that contain the bigger amount of cacao by-products," an unnamed Hansol official was quoted as saying. Hansol promised to step up research on the development of various nano-cellulose and other eco-friendly materials that can replace plastics.