Biosphere Corporation is a Ukrainian manufacturer and distributor of household and hygiene products, founded in 1997 by Andriy Zdesenko. The production facilities are represented by 4 plants. Biosphere owns a large polyethylene waste processing plant in

Fastiv Fastiv (, ) is a city in the Kyiv Oblast (province) in central Ukraine. On older maps it is depicted as Khvastiv (; ). Administratively, it serves as the administrative centre of the Fastiv Raion (district), to which it does not administratively ...

, Ukraine. It produces the first in Ukraine 100%

biodegradable bag Biodegradable bags are bags that are capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms. Each year approximately 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide. Distinguishing "biodegradable" from "compostable" In t ...

s. The company's head office is located in

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

. Since 2018, the company is among the TOP-100 most expensive Ukrainian brands. As of 2019, 3 brands of the company are among the TOP-100 most expensive Ukrainian

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

s. The corporation's portfolio includes 13 own (Freken BOK, Smile, PRO service, Novita, Vortex, Superfresh, LikeIt, Bambik, etc.) and 10 distributed brands (Selpak, Tork, Lifestyles, etc.).

History

Corporation started its activity in 1997 with distribution of brand products of international companies:

Kotex Kotex (; ) is an American brand of menstrual hygiene products, which includes the Kotex maxi, thin and ultra-thin pads, the Security tampons, and the Lightdays pantiliners. Most recently, the company has added U by Kotex to its menstrual hyg ...

Huggies Huggies is an American brand that sells disposable diapers and baby wipes that is marketed by American company Kimberly-Clark. Huggies were first test marketed in 1968, then introduced to the public in 1977 to replace the Kimbies brand. History ...

Libresse Libresse is a brand of Essity, specializing in products for period and daily intimate care. Libresse is a global brand, operating under a number of different names in local markets – Bodyform, Nana, Nuvenia, Saba, Nosotras, Libresse, and Libra. ...

, Bella, Nichols and others. In 2001, the own brand of household products and cooking accessories Freken BOK was founded. In 2002, the first in-house production was opened — the KPD facility in

. In 2007, the company started implementing Private Label projects for other brands. In 2008, production and logistics complex Thermoplast was opened in

Letychiv Letychiv (; ; ) is a Populated places in Ukraine#Rural settlements, rural settlement in Khmelnytskyi Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located from Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, Khmelnytskyi and from the railway station in Derazhnia. I ...

, Khmelnitskyi region, Ukraine In 2010, the Vortex trademark was created. Biosphere Professional (PRO service brand) was launched in the professional goods segment (away from home market). Biosphere’s own production of wet wipes opened later the same year. Since 2012, it has been undergoing an annual audit of

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

and Universal. In 2014, Biosphere opened Ukraine’s largest recycling plant Polygreen in

. The processing capacity is about 800 tons per month. In 2015, Biosphere has opened a joint venture with Groupe Lemoine (

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

) and started a state-of-the-art production of cotton products in

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

to be exported Europe-wide. In August 2018, the corporation presented a new Smile baby line of cosmetics licensed by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

. Active expansion into the markets of Scandinavia, the Baltic States and Poland has also begun. In April 2019, a new pet care product brand, LikeIt, was established. In January, 2020, the corporation started the first production of fully biodegradable and compostable garbage bags in Ukraine. The Go Green project, which combines biodegradable and / or organic products with minimal environmental impact, has expanded to include a number of corporate products — organic cotton sheets, washable with wet toilet paper and the first damp cotton cloth napkins. In 2020 started to export to England, USA, Israel, Switzerland, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Tanzania, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. In 2020 the company has launched its own diapers production and the first brand in diaper’s product line — Bambik. In a missile attack on Dnipro in April 2025 one of the companies warehouses was directly hit and destroyed. The attack killed one of Biosphere Corporation's employees and caused a fire that covered 6,000

square metre The square metre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter ( American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m2. It is the area of a square ...

Production capacity

* The KPD plant is the first and the biggest corporation’s factory located in Dnipro, Ukraine. * Polygreen Recycling Plant in Fastiv recycles 800 tons of polyethylene waste every month. * The Lemoine plant in Estonia processes 20 tons of cotton a day. The equipment allows to manufacture 108 cosmetic cotton disks per minute.

Social activity

In 2018, the Biosphere became a general partner of

World Cleanup Day World Cleanup Day is a global social action program aimed at combating the global solid waste problem, including the problem of marine debris. It is held annually on 20 September, and is coordinated by the global organization Let's Do It! World, ...

and volunteered 175,000 garbage bags made of 100% recycled polyethylene. In May 2018, the company organized the first in Ukraine plogging in Dnipro. Subsequently, similar races took place in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

. The corporation cooperates with many charitable foundations and is a partner of a number of children's charity festivals: Cities of Professions, Charity Weekend, Leopolis Jazz Fest Children's Program, "Mom + I", Wings of Hope and others. At the end of 2019, the Biosphere became the organizer of an exhibition of paintings by 9-year-old Iryna Khymich with premature aging syndrome. In April 2020 in collaboration with Ukrainian doctors Biosphere has developed a specially designed plastic bag that helps COVID-19 patients in critical condition to breathe. The corporation has dispatched 2,500 of these bags to over 100 hospitals in 65 cities in Ukraine for free as a part of a charity project.

Awards

* In 2020 Biosphere's household brand FrekenBOK won the HWB Awards 2019 established by Watsons. * The Selpak brand wins the 2016 Choice of the Year contest from 2016 to 2019. * In 2016, the Biosphere received the national “Made-in-Ukraine” Award. * TM Freken BOK won the Choice of the Year Award in 2006, 2011, 2013 years in Ukraine, and in 2018 — in Belarus.{{Cite web, title=Победители, url=https://choice-of-the-year.com/history/wins-2018, access-date=2020-07-17, website=Выбор года в Беларуси

References

Companies of Ukraine 1997 establishments in Ukraine