CARBOTURACommunity Benefits · Republic of Korea (National)
Republic of Korea (National) · For Every Resident
Your Country. Your Neighbourhood. Better.
Korea already recycles more than almost anyone. Here is what happens to the rest — and what it could earn instead of being burned.
No sorting. No separation. One collection. Everything converted.
Community Benefits · 5 min read · DOC 06 OF 06
What this document is
A plain-language explainer for residents: what Korea’s system already gets right, what the landfill ban leaves behind, and what that material could earn for the public purse instead.
Three things this document says
1Nothing changes at your kerbside — you already separate; this takes what is left.
2That residual becomes manufactured products, not ash. The factory is enclosed and is not an incinerator.
3A Circular Royalty™ comes back to the public purse for 30 years, growing every year.
Residual landfilled each year — the route that is closing
30
Years the royalty is paid, growing every year
~$874M
Gross royalty over 30 years at the first phase
Near-zero
Residual and emissions — materials become products
What Changes for You
What This Means for Every Household
Here is what Advanced Circular Manufacturing does for residents, every week, for 30 years.
♻️
You keep doing what you already do
Korea separates at the kerbside better than almost any country. That does not change. Advanced Circular Manufacturing works on what is left after recycling has done its work — the residual that today goes to landfill or is about to go to a new incinerator.
No change at home
🏭
A factory, not an incinerator
The material is converted by elemental dissociation inside a sealed, oxygen-free chamber. There is no flame and no burning. Korea is planning 27 new incineration plants in the Capital Region because the landfill route is closing; this is a different kind of answer to the same problem.
Not waste-to-energy
💧
Clean water comes out
The manufacturing process produces net-positive ultrapure water as a direct output, alongside synthetic graphite, graphene compounds and recovered minerals. About 100% of the material is converted; about 90% is sold and about 10% is used internally, which is what makes the factory self-powering.
Net-positive ultrapure water
💰
Money comes back to the public purse
The authority pays a fee for processing — at or below what outsourced treatment costs today. Then, 13 months after the first fee payment, Carbotura pays a Circular Royalty™ back: 120% of that year’s fee to begin with, growing by a percentage point every year for 30 years. At the first phase that is roughly $874M over the term.
~$874M back over 30 years
🏘️
Enclosed, and near-zero emissions
The factory is a fully enclosed industrial building with airlocked access, designed for near-zero atmospheric discharge and near-zero residual. No open piles, no odour buffer, no smokestack plume.
Enclosed · near-zero
💼
Permanent manufacturing jobs
An ACM deployment is manufactured and replicated rather than built on site, so the jobs are permanent operating roles rather than a construction peak. How many is a characterisation output — it is not guessed here.
Operating roles, not a construction peak
Today vs. With the Factory
What Changes — Side by Side
🔴 Today
✗1.28 million tonnes a year of residual still goes to landfill
✗That route is closed in the Capital Region and closes nationally in 2030
✗27 new incineration plants are planned in the Capital Region to take it
✗Outsourced treatment costs about $149 a tonne, and 105 municipalities pay it
✓The authority pays a fee at or below today’s outsourced cost
✓A Circular Royalty™ comes back for 30 years, growing every year
✓Carbotura funds 100% of the factory — zero public capital
How the Money Works
The Circular Royalty™ — Explained Simply
This is not a subsidy. It is not a discount. Here is how Republic of Korea (National) earns money back from the materials it supplies.
Your materials are collected
→
The factory converts them into manufactured products
→
Products are sold in global markets
→
Royalty paid back to Republic of Korea (National)
What the Circular Royalty™ is — in plain terms
The authority pays a Beneficiation Fee to have its residual processed — a fee that sits at or below what outsourced treatment costs today. In return, Carbotura pays a Circular Royalty™: a cash payment that starts 13 months after the first fee payment and grows every year for 30 years. It begins at 120% of that year’s fee and adds a further percentage point each year, without a cap. The fee and the royalty are two separate things, paid by different parties, and this page does not add them together. This is not a discount. It is not a rebate. It is a contractual royalty derived from the value of what the material becomes.
Your Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Korea’s kerbside separation continues exactly as it is. Advanced Circular Manufacturing takes the residual that remains after recycling — the material that today is landfilled or headed for a new incinerator.
No. Incineration burns material with oxygen and leaves ash and combustion emissions. Advanced Circular Manufacturing dissociates material into its elemental constituents inside a sealed, oxygen-free chamber — no flame, no burning — and reforms them into products. Energy generated inside the process powers the factory itself; none is sold. It is not waste-to-energy.
Two separate things. The authority pays a Beneficiation Fee for processing, at or below today’s outsourced cost. Then Carbotura pays a Circular Royalty™ back to the authority, starting 13 months after the first fee payment and growing every year for 30 years — roughly $874M over the term at the first phase. How the royalty is used is a decision for elected officials.
Carbotura does — 100% of the capital, under a Build-Own-Operate model. There is no public capital at any phase.
Because the landfill ban removed the one benchmark no manufacturing route could beat. Against landfill at about $60 a tonne nothing competes; against outsourced treatment at about $149 a tonne, a manufacturing fee does. Korea also has a statutory end-of-waste route in law — the Circular Resource certification — which Carbotura pursues, with nothing depending on it.
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Indicative reference only — not an offer. This is an unsolicited Stage 1 document prepared without a Korean engagement in place. Pricing is available under a Circular Supply Agreement (CSA) or a Circular Materials Offtake Agreement (CMOA) — contact Carbotura. Financial figures are modelled estimates on standard contract parameters and are subject to feedstock characterisation. The Beneficiation Fee is modelled at the floor of the quoted $100–150/tonne range; the range, not a point, is what is offered. Projections use K-IFRS as the jurisdiction-appropriate basis and convert at USD/KRW 1,356.63 (3 September 2026). Municipal disposal economics are VERIFIED from a named survey reported April 2026, which does not state the year its cost figures describe. Business-site (industrial) volumes and gate rates are UNVERIFIED and are the first commissioned item at characterisation. The Capital Region displaced volume (~1,750 t/day) is MODELED from national volume by population share. No claim is made about the classification of any facility, module or output stream. Korean-language copy is pending native review.