KCC Develops 100% Recycled New Material Using Glass Fiber Byproducts from Busan

Clean Nara Wet Tissue Cap Applied
Issued Synthetic Resin Material Certificate... Recognized as Recyclable Resource

KCC has developed a new circular resource material by processing manufacturing by-products generated in industrial sites.

On the 19th, KCC announced that it succeeded in developing a new material using powder refined from by-products generated during the glass fiber manufacturing process and commonly available instant rice container packaging.

The development team at KCC Sejong Plant, which produces glass fibers used across industries such as electrical, electronics, and automotive, has been researching ways to recycle manufacturing by-products. After 18 months of research, they confirmed that when the refined by-product powder, named Eco Snow, is combined with instant rice container packaging, the crystallization rate accelerates, improving production efficiency, and the material maintains consistent strength after molding, leading to the development of the new material.

The newly developed material is significant because it uses 100% recycled raw materials and can replace conventional plastics. In fact, this new material is already being used to manufacture and sell caps for biodegradable wet tissue products by Clean Nation, and it is expected to be applicable to various plastic products in the future.

Until now, wet tissue caps were made by mixing recycled plastic and virgin plastic in equal parts, but with KCC’s new material, manufacturing with 100% recycled raw materials is now possible. This is expected to bring various positive effects such as ▲ reduction of new plastic production ▲ reduction of household waste through recycling of instant rice containers ▲ reduction of manufacturing by-products and disposal costs.

This new material has been recognized as a circular resource after receiving a synthetic resin material certificate from the Korea Conformity Laboratories (KCL), enabling future recycling.

In addition to developing new materials using 100% recycled raw materials, KCC continues various ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) activities. Earlier in January, they switched all promotional printed materials to non-wood paper made from processed sugarcane by-products and applied uncoated and special processing methods that facilitate recycling and biodegradability. This change is expected to have the effect of planting approximately 533 30-year-old trees.

Han Sang-hoon, head of the development team at KCC Sejong Plant, stated, “The newly developed material is expected to be used not only for wet tissue caps but also as a substitute for various materials, and we plan to expand its application. Our ultimate goal is to utilize all by-products generated at the Sejong plant as resources without discarding any.”