LITE-ON to Promote Circular Economy Solution for Marine Styrofoam Waste at COP 25

2019/12/18

To support SDG 14 (Life Below Water), LITE-ON launches the SEA HOPE project, which is consistent with the “Blue COP” theme of UNFCCC COP 25 this year, to convey the message of the importance of ocean protection. Therefore, LITE-ON is invited to share its circular economy solution for marine Styrofoam waste in the side event of the conference hosted by Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy (TAISE).

Based on the concept of the circular economy, combining the core ability of low-carbon product development, LITE-ON's marine Styrofoam waste circular economy solution activity was launched, as one of the SEA HOPE projects, in 2018. In this activity, LITE-ON disposed of the marine Styrofoam waste after collecting by the coastal cleanup events and cooperating with governments, and then, reformed the marine waste into the recycled material by cooperating with a social enterprise. The recycled marine plastics could be used to the computer accessories, such as the keyboards and mice, hoping to reduce the plastic material made from fossil resources. Until now, LITE-ON has collected and transported more than 30 tons of marine Styrofoam waste from the outlying islands of Taiwan which is equal to the height of 3 Taipei 101 building. In the future, LITE-ON will provide on-site volume reduction’s turnkey solution for marine Styrofoam waste, promote this solution to other places where are suffering from the pollution of marine Styrofoam waste as well, hopefully solving the crisis together for recovering the health of marine ecology.

As a global citizen, LITE-ON considers sustainability as one of the cores of company operation. This year, LITE-ON is not merely the constituent of DJSI for nine years in a row, getting the certification from SBTi regarding the goal of carbon reduction, but also on the list of Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards with the Most Prestigious Sustainability Awards-Top Ten Domestic Corporates, Climate Leadership Awards, and Top 50 Corporate Sustainability Report Awards. The sustainability performance is highly recognized by the domestic and international stakeholders.

In the future, LITE-ON continues paying attention on the issues of climate change as well as ocean protection to create sustainability benefits through the circular economy concept and the low carbon products to enforce the vision of triple win among the companies, society, and the earth.

The speakers from the left to the right are Secretary General Dr. Yuh-Ming Lee of Center of Corporate Sustainability, Ashlee Yang from LITE-ON, Chairman Dr. Eugene Chien from TAISE, Professor Chien-Ming Lee from National Taipei University and Deputy Secretary General Alex L. J. Shyy from International Cooperation and Development Fund