Next up in our speaker interview series, we have Kian Seah, CEO at HHI. 

As CEO of HHI (Heng Hiap Industries Sdn Bhd, Malaysia), Kian is responsible in delivering financial results through strategic collaborations and innovative developments to serve our customers’ needs for circular, recycling solutions. HHI is an integrated end-to-end plastic recycler in both mechanical and chemical recycling. They provide traceable, high quality customized recycled plastic; recycled Polypropylene (rPP), recycled Polyethylene (rPE) and recycled Polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), as well as circular solutions to help our client fulfil their quality and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) requirements. HHI aspire to be strategic partners which support their customers in meeting sustainability and neutrality targets.

What are the biggest challenges facing the market today, and now can this be overcome? 

The biggest challenge facing the market is the mismanaged leakage of Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) plastic to the environment via channels such as improper landfills, rivers or even marine pollution. In addition to this, the collection and interception of such PCR scrap to be converted into high quality material to aligned with Consumer Package Goods (CPG) companies’ specifications is challenging. HHI works with independent recyclers who follow our de facto industrial standard to manually collect and sort the PCR scrap. The sorted material is then upgraded through our automated Near Infra Red (NIR) Technology and De-Deodorized Technology to create Hygiene Grade which are according to specifications for our CPG clients.

In your opinion, what do you consider to be the greatest development in your industry in the last decade?

The transition of linear consumption model to circular consumption model. HHI believes in giving plastic a circular destiny. For example, we collect Ocean Bound Plastic (OBP) scrap, which is defined as plastic waste located within 50km from shores where waste management is inexistent or inefficient and is at risk of polluting the ocean. This OBP is converted into high performance rPP which fulfills all critical specs, certified by Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), a world-leading testing, inspection and certification company. We also collaborated with one of the largest furniture companies in the region to make an award-winning chair from OBP rPP, named the Lourve chair. Any end-of-life Lourve chair is incentivized to be returned and collected to make a new Lourve chair, giving it a truly circular destiny. We also provide the full chain of custody for products made with our offerings through traceability. 

How do you see the sector developing in the next five to ten years?

Traceability will become a crucial feature for sustainable recycled materials and products. HHI believes in Science Based Targets initiatives (SBTi) approach. As such, we track the entire chain of custody from collection to customized recycled resins through our in-house digitalization solution. The evidence-based traceability substantiates our respective ESG narrative. 

You will be speaking at the AMI Plastics World Expos in North America, could you give us a preview on what you will be talking about?

During the session, I will talk about the bottom up approach to enable the end-to-end integrated plastic recycling model in both mechanical and chemical recycling. I will also share the exciting developments on our OBP collaborations and the breakthrough of our Hygiene Grade product. Finally, we will share about the evolution from end-to-end integration to traceability to our digitalization solution.

Kian Seah will be speaking at the AMI Plastics World Expos in North America.