三星电子扩大半导体与家电废料循环资源认定和再利用范围

Samsung Electronics is expanding the number of waste materials recognized as circular resources at its operations and broadening the scope of recycling.
Samsung Electronics said on Sept. 4 that it had secured a cumulative 38 circular-resource recognitions as of August this year. The company reduced 6,859 tons of waste in 2025 through the program.
South Korea's circular-resource recognition system allows waste that meets legal requirements to be recognized as a resource and reused as raw material without being subject to waste-related regulations.
Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) Division has expanded waste recycling and resource recovery since 2019, securing a cumulative 30 circular-resource recognitions across its operations as of August this year.
One example is wafer trays used to transport semiconductor wafers. Collected wafer trays are processed into recycled plastic and used as material for products made by the Device eXperience (DX) Division. The material has been applied to the side and volume keys of the Galaxy S25 series.
Defective wafers generated during production are crushed and processed to extract silicon, which is recycled as a raw material for aluminum alloys. Palladium is recovered from diamond disks used in wafer polishing and processed into compounds used as raw materials for printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing.
The DX Division reviewed waste generated at its Suwon, Gumi and Gwangju sites with the Korea Environment Corporation in 2024 and identified 20 items for potential circular-resource recognition. It has secured eight recognitions covering 12 of those items and plans to seek recognition for the remaining eight by June 2027.
The Gwangju site secured circular-resource recognition in 2025 for scrap generated during refrigerator molding. Previously, the scrap was crushed externally and reused as product material but was still classified as waste, requiring procedures for storage and transportation. The recognition simplified those management procedures.
Samsung Electronics is also expanding recycling of waste generated outside its manufacturing sites. Styrofoam packaging left after home appliance installations is collected and processed into plastic material used in internal components of the Bespoke AI WindFree Combo Gallery air conditioner and Infinite AI air purifier.
Waste glass generated during product manufacturing is recycled into composite fiber material and applied to the outer tub of the Bespoke AI Combo washer-dryer. Material made from recycled waste cooking oil is also used in refrigerator storage compartments.
Samsung Electronics plans to identify additional recyclable items and expand its circular-resource supply chain by returning materials recovered from waste to product manufacturing and production processes.