[DigitalToday reporter Daegeon Seok] LG Electronics will recover and recycle used refrigerants generated from home appliances and move ahead with a pilot for its refurbished products business. LG Electronics said on Thursday it signed an agreement at POSCO Center in Seoul's Gangnam district with the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, the Korea Environment Corporation and others to foster and support leading circular economy companies and industrial complexes.

The agreement includes participation by 16 companies, including POSCO, Hyundai Steel and Samyang Foods. Companies will pursue circular economy tasks across four sectors: electrical and electronics, semiconductor materials, steel and food. The tasks include expanding the use of recycled raw materials, circulating byproducts from processes, improving packaging and promoting reuse and repair.

LG Electronics will form a consortium in the electrical and electronics sector with logistics company LX Pantos, used appliance recycling company Chilseo Recycling Center, recycled refrigerant maker OwnR2Tech and Gyeongnam Technopark. It will carry out a project to build a system for recovering and recycling used refrigerants from electrical and electronic products and for refurbishment. LX Pantos will be responsible for a system to collect and manage used appliances. Chilseo Recycling Center will extract refrigerants, OwnR2Tech will develop purification technology, and Gyeongnam Technopark will take charge of a refrigerant recovery system based on cooperation with local governments and review effectiveness between policy and on-site operations.

LG Electronics plans to increase recovered used refrigerant to 81 tonnes a year by 2030, about seven times the 2024 level. The company expects the greenhouse gas reduction effect to reach about 150,000 tonnes, equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of about 30,000 passenger cars. It will use the purified high-purity recycled refrigerant for new product production and after-sales service.

For its refurbishment business, it will standardise the entire process of collection, diagnosis, repair and verification. It will inspect appearance, performance and safety to the same standards as new products. The company plans to sell verified refurbished products first to small business owners through LG Electronics' business operator online mall.

Baek Seung-tae (백승태), vice president and head of the HS Business Division, said, "We will provide customers with a customer experience they have never had before with new products and solutions, while realising a sustainable future through carbon reduction and resource circulation."