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A lush forest of green pine trees.

We contribute to resource circularity through waste recycling

Samsung Semiconductor obtained UL’s Zero Waste to Landfill Validation.

From
waste to energy,
Ends of rusted pipes in a pile. Soil contaminated by a landfill full of waste. Densely packed trees covered in a mist.
from energy to life

From waste
to energy,
Ends of rusted pipes in a pile. Soil contaminated by a landfill full of waste.
from energy
to life
Densely packed trees covered in a mist.

A vast green forest with a body of water in the center.

Samsung Semiconductor’s bright future
is built on efforts to reuse waste.
The Earth and environment are the
start and end of our journey.

By reducing the
amount of resources
we use and recycling
them after use,
we can turn waste into energy and
energy into
life in a continuous
cycle.

With Samsung Semiconductor,
life looks a little brighter.

Recycling is as important as using

Recycling is as important as using

The Samsung Semiconductor site in Pyeongtaek, behind a flower bed with blooming flowers

Zero Waste to Landfill
validation level

Infographic showing the percentages of the Zero Waste to Landfill certification: 100% is Platinum, 95-99% is Gold, 90-94% is Silver, and 80% or more is Certified.

  • Platinum

    100%

  • Gold

    95 ~ 99%

  • Silver

    90 ~ 94%

  • Certified

    80%+

The Zero Waste to Landfill validation, from the global safety certification organization UL, is a key indicator in evaluating a company’s steps toward a circular economy. Companies are awarded different levels of designations based on the percentage of waste used as resources.

Certification is divided into Platinum, Gold, and Silver grades according to waste-to-resource circulation rate. As a result of the company’s consistent efforts toward acquiring the highest Platinum grade of “Zero Waste to Landfill Validation", all five Samsung Semiconductor manufacturing sites in South Korea and two in China attained the Platinum grade in 2023, while one plant in the US maintained its Gold grade certification.

Samsung Semiconductor Zero Waste to Landfill Validations in 2023

Gold (95~99% waste diversion)

Platinum (100% waste diversion)

Infographic showing the locations of Korea, China and the United States with icons on a world map.

Platinum

Hwaseong

Giheung

Pyeongtaek

Onyang

Cheonan

Platinum

Xi’an

Suzhou

Gold

Austin

The difference between
gold and platinum
is just 5%.
And having obtained
gold
designations,
Samsung Semiconductor continued to strive
toward platinum status.
But it seemed almost
impossible to divert the
last 5% of the waste that
was being sent to landfills.

Find out how
Samsung Semiconductor overcame the final
hurdle.

Working Together Today
Close-up of semiconductor. Close-up of plant sprouting out of the soil.
Towards Creating Semiconductors for a Circular Economy

Working
Close-up of semiconductor.
Together Today
Towards Creating
Close-up of plant sprouting out of the soil.
Semiconductors for a Circular Economy

Acquired UL Platinum
for all plants in South Korea (Hwaseong, Giheung, Pyeongtaek, Onyang, Cheonan)
and in China (Xi’an and Suzhou)

And we will continue until all
our sites obtain the platinum level for Zero Waste to Landfill
by 2025.

Sky view of cloverleaf interchange with trees between the interchange and the highway.

For us, technology and eco-consciousness
are
one and the same.

Since 2018, we have had a goal of becoming zero waste, studying the recycling of different kinds of waste and investing heavily in the necessary facilities.

We also provide our partners with financial support in building extended facilities, and we conduct research to improve the efficiency of dehydration pumps and filters. And at Samsung, we all worked together to separate recyclables and minimize our use of disposable products, leading to a reduction in incinerated waste by roughly 285 tons per year.

We also received the honor of a Presidential Citation for Leading Companies in Resource Recirculation in 2019. But beyond Zero Waste to Landfill validations and Presidential Citations, our true honor is knowing that we’re creating a sustainable future.

Creating value
from waste.

At Samsung
Semiconductor,

we continue our march
toward a circular economy
where we reuse and recycle
all the

waste we generate.

  • Third-party verification based on a rigorous review of the company’s efforts toward a circular economy

    UL certification mark for Zero Waste to Landfill (Platinum certification mark obtained by the Giheung, Hwaseong and Pyeongtaek sites)

    *UL’s Zero Waste to Landfill validations:
    Giheung - Platinum, Hwaseong - Platinum,
    Pyeongtaek - Platinum, Onyang - Platinum, Cheonan - Platinum

    What is Zero Waste to Landfill validation?

    Zero Waste to Landfill is validated by UL, a global safety certification organization that gives out platinum, gold, and silver designations based on the percentage of waste used as resources.

    This is a key indicator in evaluating a company’s steps toward a circular economy. UL was established in the U.S. in 1894 as an international certification testing agency providing the development and certification of product testing standards and is considered a highly trusted safety certification in the U.S.

    Former UL CEO Keith Williams stated in a media interview that the reason why U.S. consumers feel relieved when they see the UL logo is because UL gained credibility through its uncompromising testing process.

    We are proud to have passed this strict UL validation process, becoming the first company in Korea to earn the highest platinum level of validation.

  • Playing games, watching movies, protecting the Earth?
    Chips do more than you think.

    Annual
    Waste Generation
    for the Year 2023

    1,007,598 tons

    Improving
    production
    processes

    Researching
    waste diversion

    Samsung
    employee
    campaigns

    Approx.99.8%

    That’s the average resource circulation rate at Samsung Semiconductor sites that achieved 'Zero Waste to Landfill (ZWTL) Validation' for 2023.

    99.8% means that more than 1,005,600 of the 1,007,600 tons of waste generated across all Samsung Semiconductor plants are recycled or recovered as thermal energy. Approximately 110,000 more tons of waste were recycled over the previous year.

    Infographic with a trash can, wood, recycling mark square board.

  • Samsung Semiconductor developed the technology to reuse wastewater sludge

    A pile of copper blocks on a worksite.

    Samsung Semiconductor routinely analyzes the composition of wastewater sludge, which makes up over 50% of the waste generated at DS manufacturing sites, aiming to utilize sludge as a resource. By leveraging our analysis of wastewater sludge that can be monitored through our in-house system, we have identified and broadened the scope of reclaimed wastewater.
    We extract copper from wastewater sludge and recycle it. Additionally, we employ various methods to decrease the amount of sludge produced, such as reducing the water content of sludge and modifying the chemicals utilized in wastewater treatment plants.

  • Transition to Recycling

    We have recycled SUS1) pipes and waste quartz2) that were initially disposed after verifying that they are non-hazardous general wastes through multi-component analyses: certain pipes and waste quartz wastes are recycled into raw materials for aluminum alloys and glass, respectively.

    1) Steel Use Stainless
    2) Used in chemical or gas processes



    Expansion of Reused Materials

    Absorbents used in the DS Division's air pollutant abatement equipment were previously incinerated, but now are being reused, as an adsorbent producer has developed a technology to produce regenerated adsorbents through a firing and molding process. As a result, we reuse approximately 200 tonnes of waste absorbents annually. In 2019, we developed the world's first regenerated CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) pads, which are made of polyurethane and used in wafer polishing, and registered a joint patent. Currently, we reuse approximately 700 sheets per month, gradually increasing the number since 2021.

  • Innovative technology
    recycles CV dust

    An image of the leftover waste collected and organized.

    Waste containing CV dust from production lines can explode if it is burned, so it has to go to landfills. Thanks to unfaltering material research and technology development, we succeeded in extracting valuable metals such as gold and tungsten from the CV dust. Samsung Semiconductor even recycles dust! Through a thorough analysis of raw materials and devotion to technological innovation, Samsung Semiconductor was able to discover great value in the smallest dust particles.

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