Lotte Chemical

Lotte Chemical Corporation manufactures a wide range of petrochemical products such as high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, and ethylene glycol. Lotte Chemical’s products are used in the manufacture of general housewares, pipes, films, fabrics, bottles, containers, and automotive parts. The company has almost 10,000 employees, of which about half are located in South Korea.

Total score

11 / 48

Grade Summary

To our knowledge, there are no hazardous chemicals in Lotte Chemical’s product portfolio. However, the company is only awarded two points in the first category, due to the fact that there is no available data for the 87…

Product Portfolio

2 / 18

Lotte Chemical produces/uses no highly hazardous substance. However, much about Lotte Chemical’s product portfolio is unknown due to the company’s large production that takes place outside of the EU and US.

Please note that there is no available data for the 86 percent of the company’s production that takes place outside of the EU and US. Lower EU/US production means higher uncertainty with regard to the total production of hazardous chemicals, which will have a negative impact on the company’s score in this category.

Development of Safer Chemicals

5 / 12

Lotte Chemical has a method in place to screen and assess the sustainability of its products, but does not include the intrinsic hazards of ingredients in the screening process. Neither does it exclude substances with toxic properties from its new products. Lotte Chemical actively markets safer alternatives both on its own website as well as on ChemSec Marketplace. The company does not have any true circular products, processes or innovations. Lotte Chemicals does not use bio-based resources, but it sources and treats recycled materials in a sustainable way, which is one of the key elements of a circular economy. Lotte Chemical is actively reducing the hazardous waste it generates.

Management & Transparency

1 / 12

The Korean company does not produce only sustainable products and it does not have a timed phase-out strategy for hazardous substances that go beyond regulatory compliance. It shares chemical safety information on its website, but does not follow a credible code of conduct standard. Lotte Chemical did not respond to ChemSec’s attempts to communicate around its ChemScore ranking and it does not share any information about what kind of chemicals it produces in regions with low regulatory demands for transparency (e.g. Asia). Lotte Chemical does not have a circular economy program in place, and it is lacking objective and measurable circular economy targets.