Aromatica (0015N0) said on the 16th that it has become the first listed South Korean company to earn B Corp Certification, a global corporate standard. There are 11,179 certified B Corps across 105 countries, including 37 Korean companies. The certification, administered by the nonprofit B Lab, differs from labels that verify individual product ingredients or environmental claims. It assesses a company's responsibilities to employees, customers, communities and the environment, along with the decision-making systems that reflect them.
Aromatica was evaluated on its operations and performance across five areas: governance, workers, community, environment and customers. The company scored well on its environmental management systems. It earned high marks for using recycled PET and building a system to collect containers after use. Aromatica was the first Korean company to commercialize PCR containers made entirely from recycled PET, and it designed the "Join the Circle" campaign so used containers can be recycled again easily. By turning its own empty bottles and clear PET into cosmetics containers, the company has cut its use of virgin plastic and built a system for recycling high-quality PET indefinitely, collecting about 22.5 tons of clear PET to date.
The company also continues to run a refill campaign in which consumers refill containers they already own. Aromatica launched refill packs in 2016 and holds a Refill Day at its Sinsa store on the 21st of each month as part of its push to spread refill culture. Its production facilities also drew positive reviews for energy management, including 315 solar panels installed on the roof of its smart factory in Osan that supply about 24% of the plant's total electricity from renewable sources.
"The B Corp Certification is the result of having everything Aromatica has done so far reviewed against a company-wide standard," CEO Kim Young-kyun said. "More consumers are looking not just at what is in a product but at the choices a company makes for the environment. We will keep showing why Aromatica uses recycled containers and encourages refills, and how we carry those choices through in our actual business."