LG Chem, Ansan City to team up for waste vinyl recycling

South Korea's LG Chem Ltd. has decided to recycle waste vinyl generated in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, into plastic raw materials.

The company announced on Wednesday that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the recycling of waste vinyl and the establishment of a circular economy with Ansan City on the day before.

LG Chem and Ansan City agreed on the need to establish a system for the circulation of plastic resources and to jointly promote a project to transform waste vinyl generated in Ansan into clean resources.

Waste vinyl accounts for 15,000 tons of household waste in Ansan annually, with the annual volume increasing. 

Through this agreement, Ansan City will provide some of the waste vinyl generated in the area to LG Chem's pyrolysis oil (or thermally decomposed oil) factory, scheduled to start operating in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province this year. 

The plant is a facility that extracts plastic raw materials from waste vinyl through chemical recycling.

LG Chem plans to produce various eco-friendly products using the waste vinyl from Ansan City.

Write to Sang Hoon Sung at uphoon@hankyung.com