product environment performance

global recycling

Samsung Electronics makes an effort to develop environment-friendly product that minimizing an impact to environment through whole process from getting raw materials, production, transportation, usage and end-of-life disposal by adding 'environment' on function, price, quality, design that were the essence for product development.

For this process, we takes a responsibility for whole process through LCA and recycle evaluation and by operating recycling center for dealing with an efficient treatment of the waste product.

recycling statistics

Global Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Recycling Volumes

Samsung Electronics is committed to ensuring our products are collected and recycled at end-of-life to minimize damage to the environment and promote resource reuse. We have made substantial investments in recycling infrastructure in Korea and are financing the collection and recycling of our products in many other countries. We are continually working to increase the amounts recycled across our product range. Below are the amounts Samsung Electronics recycled across all product groups in Korea and Japan from 2004, in Europe from 2005, and in the United States from 2006.

Global WEEE recycling amount, 2004 - 2006 [ tonnes ]

Cumulative WEEE recycling amount, 2003 - 2006 [ tonnes ]

Recycling Rate

Below are the recycling rates in 2007 for TVs, PCs, and Mobile Phones based on the average life-span of the product - e.g. taking the average life-span of a TV as 10 years, the recycling rate for 2007 is the weight of TVs recycled in 2007 as a percentage of the weight of TVs sold in 1997.

Recycling rates for 2007:
TVs - 137 % (based on an average life-span of 10 years)
Computers - 12 % (based on an average life-span of 7 years)
Mobile phones - 9% (based on an average life-span of 2 years)

These figures are derived from sales and recycled amounts from Korea & Japan, Europe and North America. Further details of the amounts recycled in each region are set out below.

Samsung WEEE Recycling Amounts by region

Table 1 - Annual recycling volumes in Korea/Japan (tonnes)

Product	2004	2005	2006	2007
Large Household Appliances	9,069	15,367	8,845	11,468
Cold	13,245	16,045	16,973	22,916
CRT & Display screens	4,081	4,698	6,450	10,681
Small Appliances	116	241	2,198	2,921

Table 1 includes combined Korean and Japanese data for collection and processing volumes. Korean data, which is based on mixed brand returns, is provided by ASAN (Samsung owned Processor) Recycling Center, and through other partner recyclers. Japanese data, which is based on own brand returns, is generated through the "A" group, of which Samsung is a member.

Table 2 - Annual recycling volumes in Europe (tonnes)

Product	2005	2006	2007
Large Household Appliances	1,652	5,120	8,121
Cold	6,364	11,452	33,704
CRT & Display screens	11,495	18,309	80,749
Small Appliances	1,761	3,935	14,086

Data shown in Table 2 is from the European countries in which Samsung Electronics is a member of a compliance scheme, and shows the weight of WEEE collected and recycled at treatment facilities. As WEEE in the EU is currently financed collectively, the volumes shown are the weight of mixed-brand WEEE recycled by our contracted compliance schemes on our behalf.

Table 3 - Annual recycling volumes in North America (tonnes)

product	2006	2007
CRT & Display screens	50	360

Data shown in Table 3 is provided by Samsung recycling partners operating in North America, and is comprised of mixed brand returns.

Use of Recycled Plastic

When designing and manufacturing new products Samsung Electronics aim to use recycled plastics where possible to reduce the demand for virgin materials and minimise industrial waste. Our current use of recycled plastics across all products is approximately

Post-industrial plastic: 15.9%
Post-consumer plastic: 0.2%

Samsung Electronics is planning to increase the use of recycled plastics and has set an aspirational target of 25% recycled plastic content out of total plastics used by 2025. However, there remain some key challenges to be overcome in reaching this target. Sourcing sufficient volumes and the continuity of that supply are vital to enable long-term production planning based on the use of recycled plastics. In addition, it is important to ensure that post-consumer recycled plastics are of sufficient quality and do not contain target substances, such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs), which Samsung Electronics is committed to removing from our products. Nevertheless, setting this aspirational target indicates Samsung Electronics' commitment to finding solutions to these barriers and developing new products with higher levels of recycled plastic content.