Associate Spotlight: Asia Packaging Market Manager Joey Xu driving innovation for sustainability

More than 100 years ago Milliken was already reusing packaging and textile materials in its operations and had written its first recycling policy. Today, this stewardship still guides the company’s daily choices and influences innovations in product design, raw material selection, manufacturing operations and marketing, and merchandising materials.

Joey Xu recently joined Milliken Chemical in Asia, where he works as part of the Inter-Material Replacement (IMR) team, a pioneering division focused on sustainability and new packaging trends, helping to drive the move towards a circular economy.

How long have you been with Milliken? Where do you work and in what role?
"I joined Milliken Chemical 3 months ago as Asia Packaging Market Manager, based in Shanghai. I am with the Inter-Material Replacement team and we are proud to be pioneers in developing new, sustainable product packaging."

What are you currently working on?
"Our focus is on new packaging design trends, particularly taking into account sustainability and cost savings. We aim to replace polystyrene (PS), high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with UltraClear polypropylene or polypropylene optimised with hyperform nucleating agent for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) packaging. Since starting with Milliken I have already worked with major global and regional brands on some exciting new bottle replacement projects."

What do you like most about your position? What excites you about it?
"As a packaging designer with an R&D background I have come to realise that some of my previous designs, in which packaging solutions contained multi-materials in one pack, were not good for sustainability. I was so passionate to join Milliken’s IMR team with an inspiring vision to create the ‘ideal, all PP’ package – a PP cap, PP bottle, and PP label."

What’s is your favorite Milliken Chemical memory?
"A product, actually! Millad NX 8000, which is the super star product of Milliken’s Plastics Additives division. With UL Certification it’s the best-selling PP clarifier additive in history!"

What’s special about Milliken Chemical? What do you like about the company?
"I feel so proud to work for Milliken, not only because of its more than 150-year history - from a general store to a specialty textile and chemical company – but because of its spirit of innovation and, most particularly, the Milliken Vision: how the company makes money is as important as how much money it makes."

What’s one piece of advice you have for someone looking for a job or internship at Milliken?
"Join me on my journey, you will definitely love Milliken from its spirit of innovation to its technical service 😊"