Environmental compliance principles
Hyosung Chemical adheres to the following principles to minimize pollution and impacts and effectively manage environmental risks by adhering to environmental laws and regulations.
Environmental Management PolicyEnvironmental management system
Every year, Hyosung Chemical sets KPIs and objectives for environmental management items (e.g. environmental qualification management, environmental impact assessment, environmental compliance assessment, regulation management, air and water pollutant concentrations, waste generation, responding to stakeholder complaints), develops annual plans, and evaluates whether or not these objectives are met.
Water quality
Hyosung Chemical's Gumi Plant allows wastewater generated in the manufacturing process to flow into a wastewater treatment plant. Here, the concentration of water pollutants is minimized through a joint wastewater control facility, in which the wastewater is finally discharged to a sewage treatment plant. The Yongyeon Plant treats wastewater using physicochemical, biological, and advanced treatment methods, and the quality standard for in-house effluent water is managed at about 30% of the legal standard. In addition, in the case of high-concentration wastewater, we ensure that it is managed in a way that it does not affect the wastewater treatment plant by consigning treatment.
Air quality
The Yongyeon and Gumi plants of Hyosung Chemical install and operate low-NOx burners to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx), which are air pollutants emitted from boilers, and field managers conduct daily inspections of air pollution control facilities to ensure that they are operating in accordance with the law. Moreover, since harmful substances and air pollutants are generated from in-line coater liquid preparation facilities during PET film manufacturing in the Gumi Plant, we have installed a local exhaust system and an air pollution control facility (activated carbon tower) so as to minimize the emission of air pollutants.
Waste
Hyosung Chemical regulates the safe treatment of waste. We signed a contract with a nearby incinerator to reduce GHG emissions by introducing waste heat to steam from incineration, and we rationalize energy consumption by enhancing pump efficiency and heat exchangers. In particular, by establishing a steam network for importing and selling steam to nearby factories (including our other manufacturing facilities and external factories) that use external steam and process-generated steam, we contribute to energy efficiency by laying the groundwork for each factory to use steam under optimal conditions.
Chemical substances
Hyosung Chemical installs leak detectors in hazardous chemical storage facilities to detect emergencies such as leaks of hazardous chemicals at an early stage and to respond promptly to prevent damage from environmental incidents.
Zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs)
Hyosung Chemical operates ZEVs, including electric vehicles, that can reduce air pollution and GHG emissions. We plan to increase the proportion of ZEVs to total vehicles over time.
Development of pollution reduction technology
Hyosung Chemical establishes an environmental investment plan every year for green management and environmental enhancement. We mainly invest in waste treatment, environmental restoration, pollution prevention, and processing facility improvement. We invested in a facility that converts the byproduct of the oxidation reaction, methyl acetate, into acetic acid and reintroduces it to the process. This has the effect of lowering the emissions of hazardous chemicals as well as the production cost through processing and recovery. In addition, we have constantly made environmental investments such as in wastewater treatment plant system improvement, solvent recycling equipment expansion, and gas detection-related facility maintenance.