The Journey to 100% Recycled PET

When people think of AROMATICA’s plastic packaging, one thing often comes to mind first: our “100% recycled clear PET bottles,” also known as 100% PCR PET.

PCR = Post-Consumer Recycled

PCR stands for Post-Consumer Recycled. It refers to materials made by recycling plastic that has already been used and discarded by consumers. Today, it has become almost part of AROMATICA’s packaging identity. But our packaging did not start out this way.

To make our containers easier to recycle, and to express the message we want to share as a brand more honestly through our products, AROMATICA’s packaging has gone through many changes over the years.

Let’s look back at the journey that led to today’s 100% recycled clear PET bottles.

Let’s take Rosemary Shampoo as an example, one of AROMATICA’s signature products. Rosemary Shampoo was one of the very first shampoo products introduced after AROMATICA began in 2004. It is also a product that has stayed with us through the longest journey of our product philosophy and packaging evolution.

Regular PET + Pump + Sticker Label

In its early days, Rosemary Shampoo came in a brown PET bottle with a sticker label. It looked quite different from the Rosemary Shampoo we know today. At the time, the focus was mainly on safely containing the product and communicating basic brand information.

HDPE + Pump + Sticker Label

During this period, Rosemary Shampoo entered Olive Young and began reaching a wider range of consumers. The packaging also changed from a translucent brown PET bottle to a soft white HDPE bottle. A multi-material pump and sticker label were used together.

Looking at it by today’s standards, however, this structure left a lot to be desired from a recyclability perspective.

HDPE + Pump + Coated Printing

Around this time, Rosemary Shampoo ranked No.1 in the shampoo category at Olive Young and began receiving a great deal of love. Many people may still remember this version of the packaging.

The biggest change from the previous generation was that the logo and product information were printed directly onto the bottle, instead of being placed on a PE label. Reducing label use was certainly a step forward, but by today’s recycling standards, it was still far from ideal.

Ink printed directly onto the surface of a bottle can remain as an impurity during the recycling process, making high-quality recycling more difficult. In addition, the bottle itself was still made with opaque PE, which meant there were still clear limitations in terms of practical recyclability.

PET + Pump + Coated Printing

From this period onward, an important change began: the return of PET.

There are many types of plastic, including PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP, PS, PVC, and OTHER. Among them, PET is considered relatively easy to recycle and has a higher potential to be turned back into a resource.

Recycled PET + Pump + Coated Printing

AROMATICA did not stop at renewing its packaging with PET. We took it one step further and began applying recycled materials in stages.

Using recycled plastic can reduce carbon emissions by approximately 79% compared to using virgin plastic made through petrochemical extraction. At first, we applied 50% recycled material to colored PET bottles. Later, we developed bottles made with 100% recycled material.

During this time, Rosemary Shampoo became widely recognized by consumers and established itself as an iconic product associated with the brand. Even so, we made another major packaging change.

The reason was simple: to improve the recycling rate even further.

Changing packaging that consumers had already become familiar with was a bold decision. But we did not want to stop at packaging that simply used recycled materials. We wanted to focus on recyclability — whether the packaging could actually be recycled more effectively after use.

After a long journey of material renewal, today’s 100% recycled clear PET bottle was born.
So what exactly changed?

One of the most difficult parts of a shampoo bottle is the pump. At first glance, a pump may look like a single component. In reality, however, it is made with a complex structure that combines multiple materials, including PP, metal springs, and glass balls.

This makes it difficult to recycle as a whole, and it is not easy to disassemble each material separately. Even when disassembled, small parts are often difficult to recover properly during the sorting process.

That is why AROMATICA chose to remove the pump from the standard shampoo bottle.

This does not mean that pumps should never be used. For customers who need the convenience of a pump, we still offer pump-type options. However, the standard bottle now comes with a single-material PP cap, allowing consumers to choose according to how they prefer to use the product.

As a side note, one of AROMATICA’s own team members has been using the cap type for four years. Once you get used to pouring out the product, it does not feel inconvenient — and it feels cleaner in more ways than one.

Previously, we used silk printing to print the logo and product information directly onto the bottle. However, ink left on the surface of the container can act as an impurity during recycling, making high-quality recycling more difficult.

That is why we adopted wash-off labels.

A wash-off label is designed so that the adhesive separates when it comes into contact with water, helping the label come off more easily. During the recycling process, the label can also be removed relatively easily through density separation.

Labels with strong adhesive can be frustrating to remove. You scrape them with your nails, peel them off, and end up leaving marks on both the bottle and your peace of mind. We wanted to reduce that hassle and make the process easier for both consumers and recycling sorters.

Perhaps the biggest change was the shift from colored PET to clear PET.

Colored PET is not impossible to recycle. However, to be recycled into high-quality material, bottles of the same color need to be collected together. In reality, accurately sorting and collecting containers by color is not easy.

Even when colored PET is recycled, mixed colors can reduce the transparency and quality of the material. As a result, it is often used for relatively lower-grade applications such as short fibers or filling materials. It may be used one more time, but it is difficult for it to return as a bottle.

Clear PET, on the other hand, has a higher possibility of being recycled into high-quality resources such as long fibers or transparent PET. Because it can be collected as a clear, high-purity material, its recyclability is also higher.

Most importantly, clear PET makes “Bottle to Bottle” circulation possible — allowing a used bottle to become a bottle again.

Recycling should not be a one-time use after disposal. It should be a cycle where a bottle can return as a bottle. This is what AROMATICA means by circular resource circulation.

Just because a container is easy to separate for recycling does not mean it has to be used only once and thrown away.
Through AROMATICA Refill Stations, partner zero-waste shops, and refill pouches, one container can be refilled and reused again and again. 

AROMATICA actively uses recycled materials to reduce the use of virgin plastic. At the same time, we aim to minimize discarded plastic through refill stations and refill pouches. In this way, we continue moving step by step toward a system where containers are not used once and discarded, but refilled, returned, and used again.

AROMATICA has commercialized 100% recycled clear PET bottles and built a refill system. Alongside these efforts, there is another cycle we have continued for six years: Join the Circle, our campaign for the virtuous circulation of high-quality clear PET resources.

Join the Circle is a resource circulation campaign in which AROMATICA directly collects used clear PET bottles so they do not become contaminated or mixed with other materials on their way to sorting facilities.

In collaboration with various partners, including zero-waste shops, schools, and local governments, we collect clean clear PET and turn it back into recycled material. That material is then used to make AROMATICA product containers.

A bottle returning as a bottle.
Discarded plastic becoming part of a product again.