Unilever and Bio-on present My Kai the new line of ultra-green sun
creams
- The partnership between Unilever and Bio-on has created new
brand My Kai, set to enter the cosmetics market with the first line
of eco-friendly sun creams.
- It is the world’s first product made from the new cosmetic
ingredients designed by Bio-on: micro powders made with the
revolutionary minerv bio cosmetics bioplastic, obtained from
renewable plant sources and 100% biodegradable.
- Bio-on’s ultra-green ingredients enable cosmetics products to
significantly reduce the percentage of UV filters, which are
essential to protect the skin but can be harmful for the
environment, boosting water resistance at the same time.
- My Kai products will be available in stores from March
2019.
Rome – Bologna (Italy), 28 January
2019 – Bio-on is proud to present
alongside Unilever a brand-new line of sun
protection products made from its revolutionary, 100% natural and
biodegradable bioplastic. The new products have been developed by
Bio-on, and will be sold by Unilever under the new brand My
Kai. They are the first ones made using minerv bio
cosmetics, the bioplastic micro powders presented in spring 2017
and designed for cosmetics that respect the environment and human
health. The innovation in this line is a series of ultra-green,
high-performing SPF (Sun Protection Factor)
Boosters designed to improve sun protection products.
The line builds on the skills and excellence at
Unilever and Bio-on, meeting the demands of consumers who are
increasingly concerned about sustainability and making responsible
purchasing choices. Increased awareness of the harm caused by
exposure to sunlight is accelerating the number of products with UV
filters released on the market. Their purpose is to screen against
UV radiation. UV-B rays, the most common cause of sun erythema and
sunburn, and UV-A rays, which are responsible for more serious
long-term effects: blood vessel damage, photoaging,
photocarcinogenesis. The main goal of Bio-on and Unilever is to
come up with a way to limit their concentration in cosmetics
formulas without compromising performance. These ultra-green
ingredients (micro powders made from naturally biodegradable
bioplastic microscopic spheres or capsules) are designed to
significantly reduce the percentage of UV filters used in the sun
protection product and boost water-resistance.
“This new product line is a concrete example of
how Unilever sees sustainability and proposes
innovative solutions for consumers, pursuing the goals stated in
its Unilever Sustainable Living Plan business
model. With My Kai, Unilever is
simultaneously fulfilling two objectives of the USLP: to help more
than a billion people to improve their health and wellbeing by 2020
and to halve the environmental impact of its products by 2030,”
explains Fulvio
Guarneri, Chairman & CEO of Unilever
Italia. “We are proud to do this alongside such an
excellent company as Bio-on, which shares our commitment to
innovation for the health of both humans and the planet.”
«My Kai represents another
building block in our green cosmetics revolution – says
Marco Astorri, Bio-on Chairman and CEO – to make
the sun creams market sustainable and fully respect the ocean and
the land. Through our collaboration with Unilever and our ongoing
search for new cosmetics solutions, we are defining a new
production standard with our bioplastic. We began industrial
production of micro powders on schedule in autumn 2018 and, thanks
to our ingredients and Unilever's help in organising distribution
and sale, our My Kai creams will be on store
shelves in March 2019, offering consumers a more
eco-friendly alternative».
The cosmetic ingredients (bioplastic micro
powders) in the My Kai SPF Booster line are the
result of innovative R&D by Bio-on CNS, the
Business Unit specialised in developing solutions for the cosmetics
sector. They are made by Bio-on Plants at
Bio-on’s first industrial facility built in Castel
San Pietro Terme (Bologna, Italy) with an investment of over 20
million Euro.
The new My Kai brand is
designed to safeguard the seas and oceans and references the
Hawaiian terms Kai (sea) and Makai (to the
ocean). It is inspired by the principles of Hawaii, one of
the countries at the cutting edge in marine ecosystem protection
and where Bio-on began its work in the early days.
All the biomaterials developed by Bio-on (PHAs
or polyhydroxyalkanoates and PHBs or polyhydroxybutyrate) are made
from renewable plant sources with no competition with food supply
chains. In most cases, they guarantee the same thermo-mechanical
properties as conventional plastics with the advantage of being
completely eco-sustainable and 100% naturally biodegradable.
Since 2007 Bio-on has been dedicated to changing
the world of plastic, to reduce pollution for a more sustainable
future and preserve nature thanks to its exclusive, innovative
know-how in bio-based and eco-compatible plastics development.
www.my-kai.com
Unilever
Unilever is one of the largest companies
operating on the Food, Refreshment, Home and Personal Care markets.
Located in over 190 countries around the world, its products are
used by 2.5 billion consumers every day. Unilever employs
approximately 169,000 people worldwide and recorded sales of €52.7
billion in 2016. Approximately 57% of company sales comes from
developing countries and emerging markets. The company portfolio
includes over 400 brands found in homes all over the world, such as
Dove, Sunsilk, Knorr, Algida, Magnum, Lipton, Mentadent, Svelto,
and Coccolino. The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP),
outlining the company's sustainable growth plan, has three main
goals:
- Help more than 1 billion people to improve their health and
wellbeing by 2020
- Halve the environmental impact of its products by 2030
- Improve the living conditions of millions of people by
2020
The USLP acts as a guide that leads to value
creation, boosting growth and trust and cutting risks and costs.
The company's sustainable brands are growing 50% more quickly than
its other brands and make up approximately 60% of growth recorded
by Unilever in 2016. In 2017, Unilever came top of the Dow Jones
Sustainability Index in its category of reference. The FTSE4Good
Index assigned the company the highest score in the Environment
category. Unilever has also topped the ranking of Global Corporate
Sustainability Leaders for the last seven years, resulting from the
research that GlobeScan/SustainAbility runs every year. Finally,
Unilever is committed to becoming carbon positive by 2030.
For further information on Unilever and its
brands, visit: www.unilever.it.
For further information on the Unilever
Sustainable Living Plan:
https://www.unilever.it/sustainable-living/
Bio-on S.p.A.
Bio-on S.p.A. is an Italian Intellectual
Property Company (IPC) operating on an international scale. Listed
on the AIM segment of Borsa Italiana since 2014, Bio-on licenses
and manufacturers the world's most innovative bioplastics,
conducting applied research and developing advanced
bio-fermentation technologies, and cutting-edge natural and
sustainable chemicals for the future. Bio-on's biopolymers, PHAs or
polyhydroxyalkanoates, are made from renewable plant sources with
no competition with food supply chains, including molasses and
sugar beet and sugar cane syrups, fruit and potato waste,
carbohydrates, glycerol, waste frying oil and even carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere. Bio-on bioplastics, called Minerv PHAs, have the
same thermo-mechanical properties as conventional oil-based
plastics with the advantage of being completely eco-sustainable:
100% natural and 100% biodegradable, as certified by Vincotte and
by USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). The great
versatility of PHAs means Bio-on can produce Minerv PHAs bioplastic
in microscopic dimensions to replace the invisible microbeads used
in cosmetics products, in professional SLS 3D printers, fragrances,
animal feed and many other applications. To promptly meet the
exponentially rising and increasingly diversified demand, Bio-on,
which is already working alongside big multinationals to develop
alternatives to conventional plastics, operates through six
Business Units: Bio-on Plants, RAF
Recovery And Fermentation, CNS (Cosmetic,
Nanomedicine & Smart Materials), SMD
(Structural Materials Developments), fdm (Fashion
Development Material) and ENG
(Engineering).
IssuerBio-On S.p.A.Via Dante 7/b40016 San Giorgio
di Piano (BO) Telephone +39 051893001 info@bio-on.it |
Nomad EnVent Capital Markets Ltd 25 Savile Row W1S
2ER London Tel.+447557879200 Italian Branch Via Barberini, 95 00187
Roma Tel: +3906896841 pverna@envent.it |
Specialist Banca Finnat
Euramerica S.p.A. Piazza del Gesù, 49 00186 Roma Lorenzo Scimia
Tel: +39 06 69933446 l.scimia@finnat.it |
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