제 14 호 300 Won to Save the Environment?
Kicker: SOCIETY
300 Won to Save the Environment?
by Ji-Min Baek, Cub-reporter
Environmental pollution caused by plastic use has become severe in recent times. Compared to 1950, plastic production in 2020 increased more than 240 times. A report came out saying that there will be about 1.3 billion tons of plastic waste by 2040. Even before the pandemic, the plastic usage in South Korea has been very high. However, ever since the pandemic hit, plastic use has soared due to the rise in demand for delivery and take-away. As a result, the amount of plastic waste nearly doubled from 2018 to 2020. Due to those negative developments, the government is actively considering policies that can promote the reduction of plastic usage. One of the policies that they came up with is a reduction on the use of disposable cups. Currently it is in effect among cafes and restaurants nationwide. Furthermore, a deposit system on disposable cups will begin on June 10 to prevent the excessive usage of disposable cups. The disposable cup deposit system is a system in which consumers buy drinks with an additional 300 won deposit when they use disposable cups. Like every other policy made by the government, there are people who think this is a great idea, while there are people who have opinions antithetical to the government and oppose this policy. The big question now is, “will this help protect the environment?”
About the Disposable Cup Deposit System
The disposable cup deposit system is not the first attempt. In the past, it was implemented once in 2002 mainly at fast food restaurants and coffee shops, but it was abolished in five years. At this time, it was implemented for the first time in the world to reduce the use of disposable products by inducing consumer participation, but it lacked infrastructure and failed to exert as much influence as it intended. The disposable cup deposit system has also been revived to reduce plastic waste. The stores become a subject of this system are stores such as large franchise coffee shops and fast food stores, and private stores are not applicable. Representatively, franchise stores like Starbucks, Paris Baguette, McDonald's, and Burger King are applied. The cups corresponding to this system are so-called take-out cups that we know of, excluding multi-use plastic cups that can be washed and reused. There is a cash payment or account transfer as a way to get the deposit back, and the deposit can be returned by recognizing the barcode attached to the disposable cup. It is because the bar code is used in this way, the returned cup cannot be double returned, and the cup can be returned at other stores, not only at the store where the drink was originally purchased. In addition, the disposable cups are sent to designated collectors and recycling companies for reuse and recycling.
Two views on this system
The Ministry of Environment commissioned Korea Research Co., Ltd. to conduct a public awareness survey on the introduction of the disposable cup deposit system 2,005 adult men and women nationwide, and 89.9% of the respondents agreed to the system. On the other hand, respondents who oppose the system disagree with this system for following reasons. Among those opposed , 42.6% said they were concerned about "rising product prices" and 41.1% said they were "lack of effectiveness due to low recovery and recycling rates." Also, when asked what they think about increasing the use of disposable cups, 78.6% said it was serious. When asked about the expected effects of the disposable cup deposit system, 45.5% said "reduced use of disposable cups" and 41.5% said "recycling resources" and 12.2% said "prevent street speculation.” Based on this survey, many people were aware of the seriousness of the increasing use of disposable cups, and agreed to the system to protect the environment.
However, there are also opinions against this system because concerns and confusion are expected. It has been more than a month since the use of disposable cups was banned at stores such as cafes that were implemented earlier, but confusion remains. It is said that consumer complaints that cannot adapt to the changed system are up to store employees, and conflicts arise in the process of persuading them. The disposable cup deposit system is more complicated than this, so confusion is expected. In addition, the heavy workload is expected as not only a large number of costs are passed on to franchise owners, who are private operators, but also stickers, cup washing, and responding to return deposits. The response of the shop owners is negative. In addition, there are also opinions that question the effectiveness. This is because the system was already introduced in 2002, but it was abolished due to limitations, and confusion still persists even though it is about to be implemented.
No one will object to this system to protect the environment. However, the difference in position between the Ministry of Environment and store owners is clear due to measures that have not yet been accurately prepared. As stated in the introduction above, Korea's plastic usage is serious. That is why any effort should be put into practice to protect environment. Therefore, I hope the government will come up with detailed measures to improve the effectiveness of the system as soon as possible and the system will succeed.
Sources: https://newsis.com/view/?id=NISX20220509_0001863651&cID=10201&pID=10200
https://news.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=0924246440&code=11171211&cp=nv
https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/22170549
https://www.me.go.kr/home/web/board/read.do?menuId=286&boardId=1504440&boardMasterId=1
