LG Electronics announced on the 29th that it will launch a customer participation resource recycling campaign called 'Battery Return' to recycle home appliance waste.
The 'Battery Return' campaign involves collecting waste parts such as spent batteries from LG Electronics vacuum cleaners to recover waste resources and providing discounts to participating customers when purchasing new parts. LG Electronics has been conducting the 'Battery Return' campaign twice a year in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Korea Environment Corporation (K-eco), and E-Circular Governance since 2022.
This campaign collects and disassembles non-reusable spent batteries to extract rare metals, which are low in global reserves. The LG Code Zero A9S spent batteries contain rare metals such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, and manganese.
Over the past four years of the campaign, about 108 tons of spent batteries have been accumulated as of this year. The total number of spent batteries exceeds 240,000, and the rare metals extracted from them exceed 9.6 tons.
The cumulative number of participating customers in the campaign has surpassed 140,000 this year. In particular, the number of participating customers steadily increased from about 12,000 in 2022 to over 50,000 last year, adding significance as a resource recycling campaign in partnership with customers.
This year, LG Electronics has promoted the 'Battery Return' campaign through nationwide service centers, online brand shops, and city bus advertisements, encouraging general citizens to take an interest in and participate in resource recycling activities. In the first round of the campaign, which ran for two months starting in May, more than 26,000 people participated, exceeding last year's by more than 1,500, with over 18 tons of spent batteries collected.
LG Electronics plans to conduct the second round of this year's campaign starting in October. Customers who wish to participate can return spent batteries to LG Electronics service centers nationwide. Customers who have difficulty visiting service centers can also apply online at the brand shop and return them to the nearest waste appliance collection box.
Jung Gi-wook, head of LG Electronics' vacuum cleaner business, noted, "Based on customer interest and participation, we will support more customers' involvement in resource recycling activities and practice our ESG vision of 'a better life for everyone.'"