"Recycling Old Electronics" GS Retail Joins Resource Circulation Program

E-Circular Governance and Korea Environment Corporation Sign MOU on 'ESG Management Practice and Resource Circulation Partnership'

(From the right) Sagong Min, Executive Director of Store Operation Support Office at GS Retail, Jeong Deok-gi, Chairman of E-Circular Governance, and Lee Ho-ryeong, President of Korea Environment Corporation, are taking a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement for 'ESG Management Practice and Resource Circulation Cooperation.'

GS Retail is accelerating its ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management efforts by establishing a resource circulation structure.

On the 8th, GS Retail announced that it signed a business agreement on the 7th with E-Circulation Governance and the Korea Environment Corporation at the E-Circulation Governance conference room located in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, to promote 'ESG Management Practice and Resource Circulation Partnership.'

Through this agreement, the two parties agreed to build a mutual cooperative relationship focusing on △establishing a system for collecting and recycling discarded electronic products △safe disposal of hazardous substances and eco-friendly recycling △creating synergy in the resource circulation structure.

GS Retail will start collecting and recycling electronic products (showcases, warming cabinets, microwaves, etc.) that have been used for a long time and need to be discarded from its over 16,000 stores by handing them over to E-Circulation Governance. After electronic products discarded from stores are gathered by GS Retail, E-Circulation Governance's collection vehicles will visit to pick up the products. The collected discarded electronic products will then be transferred to recycling processing companies for eco-friendly treatment or recycling.

GS Retail expects the amount of collected and recycled discarded electronic products to reach approximately 865,700 kg annually, which translates to a carbon emission reduction effect of about 2,041,967 kg CO2 eq (carbon dioxide equivalent). This effect is equivalent to planting more than 14.6 million pine trees.

Sagong Min, Head of Store Operations Support at GS Retail, said, “We have joined the resource circulation program to enable the many resources GS Retail possesses to be reused more efficiently. Going forward, we will continue to take the lead in various ESG management practices within the company to help local communities and the environment and spread positive influence.”