"Effect of Reducing 1 Million PET Bottles Annually" SKT Successfully Recycles Plastic from Telecom Antennas

At the headquarters of 'Highgain Antenna' in Danwon-gu, Ansan City, Andongjun, Head of SCM Planning Team at SK Telecom (second from the left), and Gu Guijeong, Executive Director of the Mobile Communications Business Division at Highgain Antenna (third from the left), are holding the newly developed recycled radome.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] SK Telecom has succeeded for the first time in the industry in recycling the plastic of communication antennas to reduce plastic waste dumped into the ocean.

On the 26th, SK Telecom announced that it had developed a technology to recycle the plastic (Radome) of communication antennas in collaboration with the antenna manufacturer ‘Highgain Antenna.’

This follows SK Telecom’s proposal in February last year to small and medium antenna partners to research ways to recycle the plastic of old antennas. After about two years of multiple improvements and on-site performance checks, they ensured that recycled radomes can perform as well as new products.

The recycled radome also received GR (Good Recycled Product) certification from the National Institute of Technology and Standards. This is the first time that a mobile carrier and a small and medium enterprise have collaborated to obtain GR certification for mobile communication equipment.

Communication antenna radomes are made of specially designed and processed plastic to protect key components without interfering with radio wave activity. For this reason, the plastic from old antennas is very difficult to recycle normally and was mostly incinerated.

In particular, with the path opened to manufacture new equipment using plastic from old antennas, it is expected to reduce about 30 tons of plastic waste in 2021. This is equivalent to reducing about one million 1.5-liter PET bottles (weighing about 30g each). SK Telecom plans to continue supporting partner companies researching recycling by helping them obtain GR certification and create new revenue streams from recycling.

Jung-Yeol Ahn, head of SK Telecom’s SCM1 Group, said, “We will explore resource recycling methods in various areas such as special communication equipment plastics and scrap metal,” adding, “We will strengthen the social safety net with partners and ESG management.” According to the environmental documentary film ‘Plastic Ocean,’ the global production of plastic products exceeds 300 million tons annually, and 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean every year.