To transform ‘unused’ articles into ‘useful’ ones

CONTINEW strives to transform ‘unused’ articles into ‘useful’ ones. As an upcycling company, it tries to find reborn value from discarded materials, and transforms that value into products. Among numerous discarded things, CEO Choi Yi-hyeon identified car seats as the first upcycling material. After fulfilling its function as a car seat, it is reborn as a bag.
Among the parts of a car, car seats were chosen to be upcycled due to the excellence of the material. Leather car seats alone that have lived out their role even in harsh external environments have sufficient value for upcycling. As seat belts and airbags are also great materials, CONTINEW uses them for upcycling as well.
In the past, waste materials collected from the junkyard were all used as upcycling materials, but the collection route of materials has been diversified ranging from scraps materials produced when a new car is made to replacement materials generated during the repair and maintenance processes. In other words, the company strives to upcycle all automobile wastes discarded from the entire process of the launch of a car, and its operation and scrapping.
Above all, CONTINEW prioritizes after-sale services before manufacturing a product. It is a strategy to minimize the occurrence of after-sale services by identifying possible defects in the product in advance. Tests identify parts that are easily damaged and broken in advance, with those parts being supplemented before making a product. As a result, CONTINEW can substantiate the reasons for high confidence in its products.

The environment is prioritized before the business

The decisive reason for CEO Choi Yi-hyeon to start this upcycling business was attributed to a car accident. His car parked in front of his house was hit by someone else’s car. The estimate on the car repair was KRW 20 million and the insurance wouldn’t cover it. Although it was a 24-year-old car, he dearly cherished it, so he took off the car seats to use them as a sofa in order to keep up an affinity with his car.
That was how his affinity with car seats began. It was also then when he learned about the fact that car seats are not recyclable. It was the decisive opportunity to devote his attention to the recycling business. His ideas about ‘what I could make with these car seats’ forged the path to build his business.
CEO Choi’s interest was foremost the environment rather than the business. His key item was not a ‘bag’ but an ‘eco-friendly’ product made from cart seats. To use leather, a chemical treatment process needs to be carried out, during which wastewater is generated. CONTINEW uses new renewable energy to solve this problem. The collected discarded materials are washed with rainwater, and the wastewater is filtered and reused as wash water. This is where the genuine sincerity of the business is highlighted.
“In an eco-friendly company, a sincere heart is very important. It shouldn’t stop at the level of simply recycling leather. We have to think about the waste generated in the process and the environment too. This is the concept of 100% eco-friendliness aimed by CONTINEW.”
CONTINEW’s sincere heart was put into practice. The investment cost to install a water recycling facility was close to the cost of water that the company can consume for 30 years. The facility investment can be a difficult decision to make in terms of efficiency. However, it was a choice to be made for a greater mission beyond the issue of cost.

Eco-friendly paradigm led by corporates

‘We make the earth cool’, which we cannot emphasize enough. This phrase has become CONTINEW’s mission beyond emphasis. The reason why its focus has been on an eco-friendly business for the earth and environment was to make the company’s work and mission clearer.
The mindset and practices of cherishing the environment have settled in to some extent in our daily lives. The corporate’s mission is to go one step further than this. Because of this sense of duty, CONTINEW takes eco-friendliness as its business mantra.
“Our society recommends that we use tumblers to reduce waste from disposable cups and use eco bags to reduce waste from plastic bags. But we must also consider that tumblers and eco bags are overflowing to create another form of environmental pollution. Now, companies need to do their part to save the environment.”
CEO Choi leads CONTINEW with a sense of mission to use eco-friendly materials and distribute eco-friendly products. This is because he thinks that this will inspire consumers to better embrace the idea of eco-friendliness than now. Let’s hope that the day will soon come when the use of eco-friendly products takes root naturally in our daily lives!

※ This interview was conducted in accordance with the COVID-19 safety rules.

CONTINEW

Email : hello@wecontinew.com

Website : www.wecontinew.co.kr