LG Innotek’s Pyeongtaek, South Korea, plant earns Zero Waste to Landfill certification

South Korea-based electronics manufacturer LG Innotek has announced its Pyeongtaek, South Korea, plant has earned platinum level on the global resource circulation certification of Zero Waste to Landfill (ZWTL). The company says it is a performance achieved in just one year after its Gumi, South Korea, plant received the Platinum level in 2021 for the first time among materials and components manufacturers.  

The ZWTL Certification is an international index where the global safety certification agency of Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Solutions evaluates the efforts of resource circulation by companies. The platinum level is granted when the resource recycling rate of scrap is 100 percent, followed by 95-99 percent for the Gold level and 90-94 percent for the Silver level.  

The company says the resource circulation rate of the Pyeongtaek site that received this certification was 100 percent. To achieve the ZWTL goal, LG Innotek says it consistently performed various efforts for resource circulation for each business site. Scrap glass and plastic, discharged from the manufacturing process, are recycled as cement or plastic ingredients.  

LG Innotek says the Pyeongtaek Plant recycles 343 tons of scrap annually. The site created an annual profit of 346 million South Korean Wan ($242,611) through continuous scrap recycling activities. As a result of this success, LG Innotek says it plans to expand the ZWTL certification to all factories nationwide until the first semester of next year.  

Meanwhile, LG Innotek is accelerating environmental, social and governance (ESG) management to show meaningful results in the environmental field this year. LG Innotek is participating actively in the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and Business Ambition for 1.5? campaign to become a net-zero company.  

SBTi is a global initiative of establishing and verifying the greenhouse gas reduction goal according to the standard set by the Paris Climate Agreement. The Business Ambition for 1.5? is a campaign for a preemptive response to the Paris Climate Agreement on limiting the increased level of average global temperature to 1.5?. As an action plan, LG Innotek announced in March that it will become a net zero company by 2030 and joined the Global Initiative RE100, a global initiative bringing together businesses committed to 100 percent renewable electricity, in July.