Huvis uses disposed PET bottles to produce high-purity recycled chips, which can be used to make luxury clothing.
Many domestic companies are trying to produce recycled yarns, but there was a limit on producing recycled chips. Because disposed PET bottles are contaminated or not sorted properly, they have had difficulties producing high-purity PET flakes. Also, because they do not their own equipment for producing chips, most are outsourcing their chip production. So, it was not easy to manage quality and productivity. For these reasons, many domestic yarn makers are importing high-purity yarns from other countries like Japan and Taiwan to make yarns. This recycling method was far from what consumers expected, which was for the yarn consumption to reduce domestic PET bottle waste.

Huvis installed its own equipment, capable of producing high-purity recycled chips, in its Jeonju Plant and began to produce recycled yarns in a batch processing system from raw materials to yarns. It is difficult to control the quality of recycled yarns if adhesives are embedded on the disposed PET bottles or if foreign matters are mixed in during the collection process. The thread will break during yarn production or the dye will not set evenly. Huvis receives sorted PET flakes from domestic PET bottle collectors and can produce high-quality recycled chips using a system that removes fine foreign matter, which the company developed on its own, and a system for maintaining optimal viscosity.

Huvis is planning to begin producing 2,000 tons of recycled yarn ‘Ecoever’ per year from April. The company will market the high-quality yarn for a high-end womenswear brand at first, and then develop new materials with several functions, such as flexible recycled yarns and biodegradation recycled yarns.

“350 million tons of plastic is produced each year, but only 9% of it is recycled. I hope that recycled and biodegradable materials will be able to contribute to solving the plastic waste problem that has been getting worse since the outbreak of COVID-19,” said Shin, You Dong. “We will work harder to develop eco-friendly materials that will enhance the quality of life for mankind without hurting the environment.”

In addition, Huvis is developing and commercializing polyester fiber that can be biodegradable through a special reaction by adding biomass to the polyester fiber raw materials. As it has physical properties similar to those of conventional polyester, not only can it be dyed and ironed, but it is also biodegradable within 3 years if buried after use.


▲ Recycled chips and recycled yarn produced by Huvis / Transparent and cleat PET bottle flakes are required or high-purity recycled chip production.