After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disposable products are making a garbage mountain.  According to the Ministry of Environment statistics, after the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, the amount of plastic waste generated is 923 tons a day, which increased by 18.9% from 2019, 776 tons. This is because of the increase in use of delivery services due to the routinization of working from home and self-quarantine. 

Everyone is aware that we must preserve the environment, but everyone lives the complacent life behind the fact. According to the survey hosted by “P&G Korea” and “Korea Zero Waste Movement Network,” targeting 4000 Koreans aged 15 to 59, more than 95% of domestic consumers are aware of the seriousness of the environmental problems. However, practices like purchasing eco-friendly products or decreasing delivery packing containers, and so on, reach only 20%; in other words, little practice was made contrary to perceptions. 

There are also some policies that help people to put their will to practice eco-friendly life into actions or force them to. Since last October, Busan has been trying to decrease the use of disposable plastic by providing multi-use cups named “Busan E-cup” to cafes. After installing the exclusive app and charging a deposit, 2000 won, customers can buy the beverage in the cafe. Then, they can receive the deposit by putting the E-cup in the pick-up box in Busan city hall or partnership cafes and scanning QR codes. The picked-up cups will return to the cafes after cleaning and sterilization by a specialized company. If the cup is used 200 times, it will be recycled into automobile components, and so on. The cafes near Busan city hall and about 40 cafes in Dongnae-gu, Haeundae-gu, Yeongdo-gu, and so on are using the Busan E-cup. 

Dongnae-gu restricted people from using or carrying disposable cups in the office building from March. The government employee union participates in the policy by providing the tumbler selectively or the dryer sterilizing to employees to encourage the use of personal cups. Geumjeong-gu also started the service that exchanges 10 plastic cups to one 10 liters standard plastic garbage bag to prevent the plastic cup from being thrown away imprudently in the street. 

The government policy is more compulsory. Using disposable plastic cups in the cafe, which was permitted temporarily due to COVID-19, is banned again from April. The “deposit system of disposable cups” for large franchise cafes will be enforced from June. If customers use the disposable cup, the deposit, 300 won, will be paid additionally. Now, the effort to reduce the use of disposable products is not the choice but the necessity of everyday life. 

By Lee Yoon-Seo, Desk Editor & Kim Ye-Shin, Reporter 

Translated by Lee Yeo-Jin, Editor-in-Chief