▲ LS Trade / CEO Myoungsun Sin

The recycling industry for metal resources such as copper and aluminum is gaining attention as global commodity prices soar and metal resources are depleting faster. Copper, in particular, can be recycled repeatedly without degradation and can be mixed and matched as there is no quality difference between recycled secondary production copper and primary mined copper. Recycling is also environmentally friendly, as it reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and energy use.

Although the copper recycling industry is active globally, Korea, which relies on imports for most of its metal resources, does not have a virtuous cycle due to the lack of relevant laws and regulations and lack of recycling awareness. 

The good news however is that an innovative Korean company LS Trade has rolled up sleeves and is taking the lead in the metal resource recycling. Monthly PowerKorea sat down with CEO Myoungsun Sin and learned the story.

 

Development of a mechanized mass production line for metal recycling

Located in Gapyeong, LS Trade is an intermediate recycling company that buys used household appliances from all over the country and disassembles, shreds, crushes, and sorts them to deliver copper, aluminum, and scrap metal products in scrap form. 

The company has been conducting research and development since 2015, and recently succeeded in developing an automated machine production line that can produce products in large quantities.

CEO Sin says “We continued to study the sorting and purity of the raw materials and set a goal to build a large-scale automated sorting line for recycling, which was only possible by manual labor. After seven to eight years of research, we succeeded in building an automated sorting line and have the ability to sort raw materials with high purity.”

As a result, LS Trade paved the way for the mass production of high-purity metal scrap products through an automated processing of shredding, grinding, and sorting waste appliance parts.

This is thanks to CEO Sin’s refusal to rest on her laurels and her constant investment in technology development and facility improvements. The purity of the selection rate boasts a zero-loss recycling system. It is crushed and sorted into smaller sizes, resulting in a high purity product and a high recycling rate. In addition, the low volume and light weight of the product makes it easy to ship, which is beneficial for reducing logistics costs and exporting.

Sin explains “Different metals have different uses. Aluminum, for example, is used by steelmakers as a deoxidizer, while copper goes to foundries to be made into products that can be sold. These are mainly steelmaking, foundry, and alloying plants. Since each metal has a different melting temperature, mixing different products will result in defective products, so our clients prefer our products with good selection. Also, overseas customers are responding positively to our quality, so we are preparing for active export activities.”

LS Trade said it has registered one related patent, has three patents pending, and dozens more in the pipeline. The company has been certified for quality management system ISO 9001, environmental management system IS0 14001, safety and health management system ISO 45001, and venture company certification, and has received a quality certification test report from the Korea Testing Institute.

 

The leader company in the field steered by a woman entrepreneur

Myoungsun Sin, the founder of LS Trade, has been called a little giant in the recycling industry, having overcome many obstacles as a woman entrepreneur.

Starting out as a junk dealer, she expanded to supermarkets, military bases, and amusement parks, and got into collecting and sorting recyclables in exchange for trash removal.

During this process, she realized that pure metal resources could be recycled from waste air conditioning units and waste electrical wires, and focused on non-ferrous metal recycling.

An official of the company says “Sin is a maverick entrepreneur, a frontier and a first mover who has built businesses where others don’t, with ideas and tenacity where others don’t think. Often referred to as a little giant, she is the epitome of a strong woman.”

She is a Six Sigma certified, Quality Inspection Master 1st class certified, and has a unique management philosophy of honesty and politeness. She emphasizes honesty, civility, and decisiveness in decision-making, rather than profit, when running a business.

 

Developing a recycling platform, preparing to open international offices

LS Trade is developing a platform for collecting waste appliances. It is a system that collects waste electric wires, copper pipes, aluminum pots, and waste appliances in exchange for money by applying through the app. This is expected to further revitalize the related industry as the general public can sell recyclables directly.

Meanwhile, LS Trade has been directly exporting metal scrap products to China, and has received good feedback from the Chinese market for its high quality and has received orders to increase the export volume. Taking the momentum, CEO Sin is pushing forward her plan of opening offices overseas.

백정준 기자  googies@naver.com