Samsung, LG boost use of recycled materials for electronics

South Korean tech giants Samsung and LG are increasing their amount of electronic products made from recycled materials.

The companies will showcase various products using recycled plastics, fabrics and fishing nets at IFA 2022, one of the world’s largest electronics and home appliances trade shows to be held next month in Berlin.

RECYCLED PLASTICS IN LATEST GALAXY FOLDABLES

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip4 and Galaxy Z Fold4, unveiled at the unpacked event on Aug. 10, are made partly with recycled plastic.

The phone's side key brackets, the parts supporting the device's side buttons, use plastic from waste fishing nets collected from the Indian Ocean coast.

Some 90% of the weight of the Galaxy Buds2 Pro, Samsung’s wireless earbuds, comes from recycled plastic including the charging case components. 

Samsung introduced recycled plastics to its new TVs, monitors and remote controls this year, as well as expanded the use of its eco-friendly SolarCell Remote from quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED) TVs to more products. The TV's remote control is charged by solar panels or standard USB-C cables.

The electronics giant and Patagonia, a world-renowned outdoor brand, in July 2021 kicked off their collaboration to develop a technology to reduce microplastics in the oceans. At IFA 2022, the two companies will showcase a new washing machine laundry method that will decrease microplastics generation by up to 54%.    

Samsung Electronics Co. plans to expand its use of recycled materials to include all of its mobile products and home appliances over the next three years, said Vice Chairman and CEO Han Jong-hee during a pre-show keynote event at CES 2022 held in January.

Han also said the company’s visual display business plans to use 30 times more recycled plastics this year than it did in 2021. According to its June ESG report, Samsung used 31,000-33,000 tons of recycled plastics in its products last year.

LG OPERATES RECYCLING CENTER FOR RAW MATERIALS PRODUCTION

LG Electronics is also bolstering the use of recycled materials in its main products, such as refrigerators, air-conditioners, TVs, monitors and soundbars. By using recycled plastics, its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) evo TV’s 2022 models have already received approval from global eco-product agencies such as Société Générale de Surveillance SA (SGS) Eco-Product certification.

LG is producing raw materials from recycled plastics at its recycling center in Haman County, in Korea's South Gyeongsang Province, by separating plastics from disused home appliances. LG has set a goal to use a total of 600,000 tons of recycled plastics during 2021-2030, using 27,000 tons of such materials last year alone.  

Its new air purifier LG Puricare Aero Furniture, to be showcased at IFA 2022, also contains discarded electronics-extracted recycled plastics in its external materials.

As ESG management is an irreversible trend, many companies are working to reduce the use of plastics in most manufacturing stages from product design, planning and development, an electronics industry source said.

Write to Ji-Eun Jeong at jeong@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.