LG Innotek Announces Complete Industrial Waste Recycling
LG Innotek said that the Pyeongtaek plant had earned the "Platinum" level of the "Zero Waste to Landfill (ZWTL)" global resource certification. It is a performance achieved in just one year after the Gumi plant received the ‘Platinum’ level in October 2021 for the first time among materials & components manufacturers.
ZWTL Certification is an international index where UL (Underwriters Laboratories) Solutions, a global safety certification agency, evaluates companies' efforts to circulate resources. The "Platinum" level is reached when the rate of recycling resources from waste is 100%, while the "Gold" level is 95–99%, and the "Silver" level is 90–94%.
The site in Pyeongtaek that got this certification had a 100% resource circulation rate (also called a waste recycling rate). This site got the Platinum level, which is the highest level in the world, and the Automotive Components Business Sector is led by the Pyeongtaek site.
To reach the ZWTL goal, LG Innotek kept trying different ways to get resources to flow between each company site. Glass, plastic, and other wastes from manufacturing are recycled and turned into cement or plastic.
The Pyeongtaek Plant is shown to recycle 343 tonnes of waste annually. LG Innotek employees say that the recycling rate went up because they found a company that collects plastic waste that was originally thrown away as general waste and recycles it into polypropylene bands using advanced separation technology. Through recycling waste all the time, the Pyeongtaek site was able to make a profit of KRW 346 million every year.
LG Innotek personnel explained, “To reduce the excessive amount of packing materials used to prepare for rain and snow, canopy and dock were installed in the factory to prevent damage from rain,” and added, “We were also able to reduce the expenses for waste treatment and packing materials at the same time.”
LG Innotek wants to quickly expand the ZWTL certification to all factories in the United States by the first semester of next year.
LG Innotek, meanwhile, is speeding up ESG management to show real progress in the environmental field this year. Especially, 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.
Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) is a global initiative to establish and verify the greenhouse gas reduction goal according to the standard set by the Paris Climate Agreement. Furthermore, Business Ambition for 1.5 °C is a preemptive response to the Paris Climate Agreement aimed at limiting the increase in average global temperature to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. As an action plan, LG Innotek announced in March that it would become a net zero company by 2030 and joined the Global Initiative RE100 in July.
Last month, LG Innotek acknowledged the efforts on reducing the amount of waste and increasing the recycling rate to receive the ‘Minister Prize from the Ministry of Environment as the leading company in resource circulation. The Gwangju plant (in June 2022) and the Pyeongtaek plant (in August 2022) also got a resource recycling quality mark (resource recycling recognition and quality mark). This is a certification granted by the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute on wastes that do not include harmful and foreign substances, and substances receiving this certification are recognised as resources.
Park Yeong-su, Head of Safety & Environment Division, said, "Along with the Declaration for Net Zero this year, LG Innotek joined RE100 to secure the global level of ESG leadership." He also said, "As a company with zero environmental impact, we will help improve customer experiences."
Source: LG Innotek
