Joong-hyun Ki, CEO and President of Yonwoo

“At Yonwoo we firmly believe that ‘green solutions’ must not be only ‘eco-friendly’ but also ‘user friendly’. Meaning we want both our customers and users to get familiar with the eco-routine through intuitive and easy-to-use products,” explains Joong-hyun Ki, CEO and President of Yonwoo.

The Korean manufacturer took an early interest in the issue. As soon as 1997, the company started a study on safe material sources and processing methods for recycled and bio-degradable plastics. In 2009, Yonwoo developed the Paper Blow (overcap and bottle covered by recyclable paper), and in 2013, the first prototype of their ‘One Material’ airless pump.

Today, very methodically, Yonwoo continues its efforts to develop "green solutions" based on the ‘3-R’ (Reduce / Refill / Recycle):

 Reduce: From the conceptualization of the product, the aim is to minimize the weight and number of components, thus the plastic use. Yonwoo is also working on reducing their standard bottles thickness to progressively put the eco-responsibility at the centre of their whole portfolio.

 Refill: Like other packaging manufacturers, Yonwoo is also developing ideas to reduce the plastic use through refill systems. “For example by refilling once our ‘Noble Cream Jar’, you are reducing your plastic use rate by 95%,” highlights Joong-hyun Ki.

 Recycle: Last but not least, we are also working on the most recyclable products possible by minimizing and simplifying the materials. The group’s greatest achievement yet is the One Material pump series : fully made of the same plastic family, our users won’t need to waste sorting before throwing them away.

“We are also making progress with recycled materials such as PCR PP, PET, and also Bio-based PE for our increasing tubes volumes. We are currently finalizing the PCR and Bio PE materials tests; with promising results, they are expected for later this year,” adds the President of the Korean group.

Today, nine of Yonwoo eco-friendly products are certified by ECOCERT.

While an airless pump is usually made of 9 or 10 pieces from different materials, including metal for the spring, Yonwoo developed the first airless pump prototype made of only PE and PP back in 2013.

However, the Korean manufacturer had to face numerous challenges before making this pump to perform at the same level as a standard airless in terms of dosage, high viscosity formula pumping and leakage performance. In 2020 after years of improvements, Yonwoo engineers achieved to make it as perfect as their standard pumps. And they went even further by applying the same technology to the Presto Jar, a completely different type of packaging suited for even higher viscosity formula.

Same success for the 2cc / 3cc pumps which provide the strongest and most efficient pumping performance, so as the versatile 0.20cc pump.

Another recent development, the EZ series also demonstrates Yonwoo’s expertise in making both eco and user-friendly products. The company simplified its conception as much as possible to reduce the plastic use, while its refilling gesture by simply turning the inner bottle base is intuitive. Optionnally, the overcap and the outer bottle can be produced in recycled PCR PET, and the refill cap and inner bottle in PCR PP. “Of course, its airless pump is built on our best airless technology to perfectly protect the formula, even the preservative-free ones such as organic cosmetics,” concludes Joong-hyun Ki.

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