On September 21, 2026, the SMM Recycled Metals Delegation (Korea Edition) set off, and on its first day, the second stop was a visit to ER Co., Ltd. (㈜이알), a spent battery recycling company in Gimhae, South Korea. Founded in 2008, the company holds a full set of permits for battery recycling and waste reuse, covers battery recycling, catalyst recycling, and alternative fuel/non-ferrous metal manufacturing, and operates a lithium battery recycling research institute. It is a licensed processor in the midstream of South Korea's battery recycling industry chain.

Key Points

  • On September 21, 2026, the SMM Recycled Metals Delegation (Korea Edition) visited ER Co., Ltd. in Gimhae as the second stop on its first day.
  • ER Co., Ltd. was founded in 2008, holds a full set of permits for battery recycling and waste reuse, and operates a lithium battery recycling research institute.
  • The two sides exchanged views on resource recovery pathways for spent batteries, waste oil, and hazardous waste, as well as China-Korea cross-border recycling cooperation.

Since 2023, SMM has organized recycled metals delegations to Malaysia, Thailand, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Japan, and other places. This time, the destination was set as South Korea, aiming to find cooperation coordinates and raw material channels for industry peers.

ER Co., Ltd. was received by the company's leadership team, and the two sides discussed resource recovery pathways for hazardous waste such as spent batteries and waste oil. Combining the company's environmental protection practices, ER management introduced the company's systematic approach to the collection, sorting, and disposal of spent batteries, waste oil, and hazardous waste, as well as its path of converting waste into innovative products and alternative fuels through technical means to achieve resource recycling. Delegation members shared the development status and market opportunities of China's renewable resource industry, especially in the fields of spent battery recycling and hazardous waste disposal. The two sides also exchanged views on the potential for China-Korea cooperation in cross-border waste recycling and circular economy coordination.

Through this visit, the delegation gained a deeper understanding of ER Co., Ltd.'s operating model, management experience, and business layout in the fields of waste recycling and circular utilization, and formed a more intuitive understanding of South Korea's policy framework and technical pathways for hazardous waste disposal and battery recycling. The visit built a bridge for communication and connection between Chinese and Korean renewable resource enterprises, and also provided reference for domestic enterprises going global to participate in international renewable resource circulation and expand high-value utilization of waste.

From the perspective of the industry background, South Korea is a global powerhouse in lithium battery manufacturing, but its domestic resources of lithium, cobalt, and nickel are extremely scarce. The government has regarded the recycling of used batteries as a national strategic link in safeguarding the supply chain of critical minerals, upgrading them from waste to national strategic resources. The industry is currently in an investment period of intensified policies and capacity expansion. South Korea ranks among the leaders in automated sorting and smelting purification of scrap metals. Relying on policy frameworks such as the Resource Circulation Act, it encourages R&D investment through tax incentives and subsidies, while downstream companies such as Hyundai and Samsung have formed collaborative closed loops with recycling enterprises. For Chinese renewable resource enterprises, South Korea's policy path and technological direction may provide a reference sample for building overseas recycling networks and hazardous waste disposal cooperation.

Source: 2026SMM|Recycled Metals Delegation (Korea Edition) Second Stop——ER Co., Ltd.__Shanghai Metals Market · Originally published on 2026-09-29