Supplying Recycled Foam from Within and Across Industries to Shoe Manufacturers

Kun Huang Enterprise uses re-foaming and recycling technology to collect and recycle foam in its factories and across industries; subsequently, the company provides it to manufacturers of insoles, building materials, floor mats, etc., as raw materials.

In-factory waste recycling

To address the increasing amount of scraps in its factories, Kun Huang Enterprise successfully developed the PURECYCLE products in 2017, which use composite PU materials containing fabric scraps. The amount of recycled materials in PURECYCLE products reaches more than 70%, which allows nearly 95% of the in-factory fabric scraps to be recycled. This technology has been certified by the 2020 Global Recycling Standard (GRS), and used in building materials and safety protection products.

Cross-industry cooperation to increase the availability of recycled materials

In recent years, Kun Huang Enterprise has developed POLIYOU, a 100% recyclable PU foam material. This material can be added with up to 85% recycled PU foam material. By purchasing scraps from foam and furniture factories, re-selecting and crushing them, and adding raw materials to remanufacture foam, POLIYOU can be used to produce foam products with different hardness and density, which can meet the demand for diverse products such as insoles, protective gear, sound insulation materials, and packaging linings. It has already been adopted by several reputable domestic and international brands.

Investing in the development of biomass materials

Kun Huang Enterprise utilizes soybean and linseed oil as a substitute for conventional petrochemical raw materials, with the oil content in raw materials able to reach up to 30% and combine at least 70% recycled materials. In addition, agricultural waste such as coffee grounds, pineapple fiber, oyster powder, cork granules, etc., can also be combined with POLIYOU.

Benefits

  • The production of one kilogram of POLIYOU only produces 1.46 kg CO2e, which is about one-sixth of the carbon emissions from traditional foam production.