Eco-friendly materials are at the core of sustainable growth. Efforts to develop recycling technologies that minimize the emission of environmentally harmful substances are accelerating. As ESG management and environmental regulations increasingly emerge as new trade barriers, many experts note that we have entered an era in which the adoption of eco-friendly materials is no longer optional but essential.
EOMTech, an eco-friendly materials startup that began as POSCO’s first in-house venture, is presenting new alternatives for the construction and civil engineering sectors through its proprietary technologies.
◆ The Potential of Circular Resources
Among various types of waste, waste plastics—generated in large volumes—are considered a major cause of environmental pollution. Their limited range of reuse as circular resources has long been a challenge.
Young-jun Park, CEO of EOMTech, explained:
“About 3.1 million tons of waste plastics are incinerated or landfilled every year without being recycled. While recycling businesses are expanding to address this issue, their applications are largely limited to everyday products such as shoes and clothing, which restricts market size. At EOMTech, we devised a way to utilize waste plastics on a large scale by developing materials for architecture and civil engineering.”
Using a material that combines waste plastics and steelmaking byproduct slag, EOMTech has developed railway sleepers, which, after demonstration testing, began supply in the first half of this year…
