I AM Enters Waste Circular Economy ESG New Business... MOU for SRF Power Plant Development

IM is making a full-scale entry into the ESG new business related to waste management.

On the 30th, IM announced that it signed an investment and cooperation MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Better Energy & Environment (hereinafter BEE) for the development project of a resource recovery SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel) power plant (WTE).

An SRF power plant is a facility that reprocesses selected plastic waste into solid fuel form and then burns it to recover heat. SRF power plants are attracting attention as essential facilities for large cities because they solve waste problems while producing electricity.

Through this contract, the two companies plan to establish a 30MW (megawatt) non-shaped SRF power plant and a waste fuel production facility with an annual capacity of 300,000 tons within the Daeyang Industrial Complex located in Mokpo, Jeollanam-do.

BEE is a consulting and operation management company related to eco-friendly energy. According to BEE, it has provided implementation and project management services for a 19,800kW fuel cell power project located in Gangneung and a 75,000kW offshore wind power project located in Gyeongju.

A company official stated, “Starting from 2026, direct landfill of volume-based household waste will be banned in the metropolitan area, putting local governments in the metropolitan area in an emergency situation,” and added, “The Metropolitan Landfill Management Corporation is reportedly promoting the installation of resource recovery facilities in the form of combined heat and power generation at the metropolitan landfill site.”

According to the company, waste incineration can reduce volume by 95-99% and weight by 80-85% compared to landfilling, effectively saving landfill space. A company representative said, “Incineration is inevitable to handle the increasing waste, and SRF power plants, which can generate energy simultaneously with incineration, are expected to solve a significant portion of the waste disposal problem.”