How a Company Creates an Upcycling Ecosystem — to Go Further Together
B Corp Continew Crafts Fashionable Bags from Scrap Materials
Business ideas has varied origins but often are born through experience. Consider the case of Continew, which became reality after a man realized from his experience of buying a used car that parts of the car could not be recycled — and most were inevitably thrown away. He then researched that discarded car interior materials generate 4 million tons of waste annually around the world. With that motivation, he decided to create a solution by launching Continew, with the nickname “A Backpack Transformed from a Car.”
Continew practices upcycling, a new form of waste recycling that repurposes and upgrades discarded materials into a new product with more value. More businesses are tapping into this growing phenomenon to manage waste and incorporate sustainable products. Among the upcycling leaders is Continew, a company first recognized in Korea for its creation of fashionable bags using discarded leather from scrap cars.
From Useless to Useful
With a name created by combining the words “continue” and “new,” Continew focuses on recycling automobile waste materials. Leather was the first target. After collection, the leathers are washed, dried, heat-coated, cut, and made into bags. But these bags aren’t just environmentally friendly — they’re also stylish and durable. The CEO brought in a veteran designer with more than 30 years of experience to break prejudice against upcycled products. Can you imagine the final product?
From BTS to Porsche
After South Korean rapper-songwriter RM of BTS posted a photo on social media using a Continew bag while vacationing in Europe in 2017, word about the company quickly began to go viral. Now Continew is among the better-known social enterprises and has been steadily collaborating with automakers such as Porsche, Ford, Volvo, Audi, Renault, and Hyundai.
Continew continues to create and reshape the roadmap for its upcycling ecosystem. From its founding in 2015, Continew explored upcycling options and secured upcycling materials required for its business. These include natural leather seats, seat belts, and airbags collected from automobile production and end-of-life vehicles in addition to sugar cane, corn, and newspapers used to create paper and tape for packaging.
The second phase involved creating a competitive edge for its business through its mission in developing an environment-friendly ecosystem in addition to green materials. In the third phase, it finished building its Factory 021 (more on that below!) and further honed in on shaping the company’s upcycling system. It was able to develop an entire eco-friendly process to prepare and upcycle materials and use them to manufacture products for customers.
From a Kimchi Factory to an Upcycling Hub
In 2020 Continew achieved the goal of founding its ecosystem outpost, the Ecological Plant 021 (aka the Factory 021), which was one of the company’s biggest challenges. The Factory 021 was completed in October 2020 after 18 months of research and construction. The company remodeled a kimchi factory into an upcycling hub where materials go through a design development and test research period (an average of 455 days) so that they are durable and long-lasting even after being re-created into new products. At the factory, Continew takes several measures to practice carbon and water neutrality. Solar panels mean 100% of electric energy is self-generated through photovoltaic power. A hybrid water regeneration system collects rainwater, which is purified and used to wash materials.
It was challenging to construct this innovative factory, not because of technological reasons but because of difficulties in persuading investors. After a process that included a year and two months of development for a hybrid water regeneration system alone, the mission was accomplished! The Factory 021 is a starting point for the company’s goal of building more sustainable ecosystems. Since its start in 2015, Continew has saved 650,000 tons of water and recycled 370 tons of waste products. In total, the amount of CO2 that it has saved exceeds 10,000 tons. This is equivalent to the effect of planting more than 1.5 million pine trees.
Building Business as a Force for Good
With a strong mission and better practices, Continew completed B Corp Certification this year. As a company, Continew believes that it should use its business as a force for good. It acts on that belief by minimizing its negative impact on the environment through its upcycling business that practices water and carbon neutrality. It also hopes to inspire other companies to embark on their own environmental journeys.
Although Continew is one of many growing leaders in the upcycling business sector, its commitment to an eco-friendly process and transparency adds special value to its core focus on upcycling materials.
As a B Corp, Continew CEO Ian Choi says he hopes to raise the bar for other companies. “I don’t want to say Continew is a special case. I am trying to set a precedent for other impact businesses, telling them that social ventures like us can do it. So why not try?”
B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
