Huvis enters the industrial buffer market with eco-friendly polyester (PET) foam material ‘ECOPET’*.
Specializing in chemical materials, Huvis (CEO Shin, You Dong, 079980) announced on the 24th that it has completed the construction for ECOPET production facilities in Chungju, Chungbuk in cooperation with ES Co., Ltd. to produce industrial buffer materials for ECOPET.

Through this partnership, Huvis will supply raw materials and provide production facilities and technology to produce ECOPET, while ES will provide a new plant infrastructure and produce and deliver the products to Huvis. ES is a company specializing in synthetic resins that produces/sells air bubble wraps, film coatings and mats, and this is a good opportunity for them to enter new business using idle land and experts. Moreover, Huvis can now expand the ECOPET market by developing new uses aside from food containers.

Huvis ECOPET Chungju Plant has an annual production capacity of 3,000 tons. The previous ECOPET production line will focus on materials for food containers and cars, whereas the Chungju Plant will concentrate on the market for interior boards and industrial buffers such as display protection pads. 

It was difficult to dispose of existing display protection buffers such as PU(polyurethane), PS(polystyrene), and PE(polyethylene) foam materials as they are not recyclable and require a combination of different materials in making protection pads. However, pads made of ECOPET are in just PET only, which makes it highly recyclable after disposal, thereby receiving excellent feedback in terms of both function and aesthetics.  

Meanwhile, Chongqing Huvis Ecopack Materials established in November 2019 as a joint venture with a local Chinese food container company aims to begin production in the second half-year, which is expected to promote commercial sales of ECOPET within the year.

“ECOPET has high marketability as Korea’s first PET foam material, which can replace the existing foam materials that are not recyclable,” said Huvis CEO You Dong Shin who attended the signboard hanging ceremony for ECOPET Chungju Plant on August 24. “We plan to develop new materials that place top priority on safety for the human body as well as eco-friendliness.” 

*‘ECOPET’ is a sheet-type polyester (PET) foam material with excellent thermal insulation and resistance, and is used as HMR food containers since it does not produce endocrine disrupters. It is an innovative material that is easy to recycle and thus lowers the burden of environmental issues. It is earning recognition for its outstanding qualities by winning the Prime Minister’s Award in the Government Award for Future Packaging New Technology (Korea Star Awards) 2017’ as well as the ‘Asia Star Awards’ and ‘World Star Awards 2018’.

 
▲ (Left) Huvis CEO You Dong Shin (4th from the right) and ES CEO Seungmin Lee (5th from the right) can be seen holding the signboard hanging ceremony on August 24 at Huvis ECOPET Chungju Plant.
▲ (Right) Huvis CEO You Dong Shin (7th from the right) and Huvis&ES employees can be seen celebrating the signboard hanging ceremony at ECOPET Chungju Plant.