ISO tanks carrying recycled feedstock produced at Dosi Yujeong's Wavve Jeongeup factory depart for Gwangyang port ahead of the first overseas export to Trafigura. Executives and staff of Dosi Yujeong Co. and Wavve Jeongeup Co. celebrate the milestone shipment. [Dosi Yujeong]
ISO tanks carrying recycled feedstock produced at Dosi Yujeong's Wavve Jeongeup factory depart for Gwangyang port ahead of the first overseas export to Trafigura. Executives and staff of Dosi Yujeong Co. and Wavve Jeongeup Co. celebrate the milestone shipment. [Dosi Yujeong]

South Korea has achieved a first: using domestic plastic-waste recycling technology to restore naphtha — a key petrochemical feedstock the country has long relied entirely on imports to supply — and export it to overseas markets.

Dosi Yujeong announced Tuesday that it had shipped the first batch of 220 tons of recycled naphtha-grade oil (RGO), produced using its proprietary non-combustion, low-temperature decomposition technology, from Gwangyang port in South Jeolla Province. The shipment marks the company's first export into the supply chain of global commodities trader Trafigura.

The recycled feedstock was produced at the Wavve Jeongeup factory in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, loaded onto 11 ISO tanks, and is scheduled to arrive at Pasir Gudang port in Malaysia on Aug. 17. Dosi Yujeong will supply Trafigura with the factory's entire annual output — approximately 4,550 tons — over the next three years.

Industry observers have hailed the export as a milestone for resource security and the circular economy. It goes beyond simple plastic-waste recycling to restore domestically generated waste plastic into high-quality feedstock that can be fed directly into petrochemical processes and supplied to global supply chains.

The company's core technology combines low-temperature indirect electric heating with ceramic-ball wave energy in a non-combustion decomposition process. By eliminating combustion, the process sharply reduces carbon emissions and hazardous byproducts while maximizing the efficiency of restoring waste vinyl and plastic into usable raw materials. Dosi Yujeong has also cleared global regulatory barriers by obtaining ISCC PLUS certification, an international standard that recognizes the sustainability and traceability of feedstock.

South Korea has no crude oil production of its own, yet the company has begun reshaping the country's petrochemical supply chain through independent resource-circulation technology. Analysts see the move as a high-value industrial model that reduces vulnerability to geopolitical risks in raw material imports and positions Korea to respond proactively to tightening global ESG regulations.

"It is deeply meaningful that we have restored a petrochemical feedstock that was entirely import-dependent using our own resource-circulation technology and exported it to the world market," said Jeong Yeong-hun, chief executive of Dosi Yujeong. "We will secure domestic production facilities capable of producing 70,000 tons — about 89 million liters — annually by 2027, contributing to the development of a global low-carbon supply chain."


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