LG Electronics is taking significant steps to promote a circular economy for home appliances. The company plans to recover and recycle refrigerants from its products and is also moving forward with a proof of concept for its refurbished product business.
On June 19, LG Electronics signed an agreement at the Posco Center in Gangnam, Seoul, with the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, along with representatives from 16 participating companies, including Posco and Hyundai Steel, to support the development of leading circular economy enterprises.
This agreement aims to enhance the use of recycled materials and reduce waste in four sectors: electronics, semiconductors, steel, and food.
In the electronics sector, LG Electronics has formed a consortium with LX Pantos, Chilseo Recycling Center, Owon Alutech, and Gyeongnam Technopark to implement its initiatives.
As part of this effort, the consortium will focus on establishing a waste appliance recovery and management system with LX Pantos, extracting refrigerants at Chilseo Recycling Center, developing waste refrigerant purification technology with Owon Alutech, and standardizing management in collaboration with local governments through Gyeongnam Technopark.
LG Electronics aims to increase its annual refrigerant recovery to 81 tons by 2030, approximately seven times the amount recovered in 2024. This volume is enough to supply around 100,000 six-pyeong wall-mounted air conditioners and is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 150,000 tons, equivalent to the annual emissions from approximately 30,000 passenger cars. The purified, high-purity recycled refrigerants will be reused in the production of new products and for after-sales service.
The company is also intensifying its efforts in the refurbished product business. LG plans to standardize the entire process from recovery to verification, ensuring strict quality inspections to guarantee new product-level quality. Verified refurbished appliances will be prioritized for sale through LG Electronics' business portal as part of its support policy for small businesses.
Recently, LG Electronics has launched various ESG initiatives, including the "Battery Return" campaign to collect used vacuum cleaner batteries and reducing plastic usage in OLED TVs. The company extracts rare metals like lithium and nickel from collected batteries for resource recovery and has reduced plastic usage in OLED TVs to 40% of that used in LCD TVs by applying composite fiber materials.
As a result, LG Electronics has been recognized for three consecutive years as being in the top 1% in corporate sustainability assessments by S&P Global. It has also been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World for 14 consecutive years and received an "AA" rating in the MSCI ESG assessment, acknowledging its achievements from global institutions.
Baek Seung-tae, Vice President of LG Electronics' Home Appliance Business Division, emphasized, "We will provide customers with unprecedented experiences through new products and solutions while realizing a sustainable future through carbon reduction and resource recycling."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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