Samsung Electronics Secures 38 Circular-Resource Certifications, Cuts Annual Waste by 6,859 Tons

Samsung Electronics says it has secured 38 circular-resource certifications ahead of South Korea’s Resource Circulation Day on Sept. 6, giving the company a formal pathway to turn qualifying waste into new raw materials.

The certification system, introduced in 2018, applies to waste that is not harmful to people or the environment and meets requirements such as economic feasibility. Of Samsung’s 38 certifications, 30 belong to its semiconductor, or DS, division, while eight belong to its Device eXperience, or DX, division.

The DS division separates and recovers waste from semiconductor production, then uses high-purity refining and material-conversion technologies to reuse it. One example involves wafer trays, the containers used to transport the thin silicon wafers that form semiconductor chips. Samsung collects the high-quality plastic trays, reprocesses them into recycled plastic and uses the material in Galaxy smartphones.

The DX division reviewed waste from major sites in Suwon, Gumi and Gwangju with help from the Korea Environment Corporation in 2024. It identified 20 items, including steel plates and washing-machine drums, as potential circular resources. Samsung has since obtained eight certifications covering 12 of those items and plans to pursue certifications for the remaining eight by June next year.

Samsung said its circular-resource efforts reduced waste by 6,859 tons last year. It plans to identify more materials that can be recycled at its sites, consider new resource-recovery technologies and expand a supply chain that returns recovered materials to products and manufacturing processes.