By Kim Se-jeong
Korea is a land of coffee drinkers. Cafes are ubiquitous in Seoul, drawing hundreds of customers every day.
But the mushrooming cafes have consequences ― such as tons of used paper and plastic cups, which are recyclable but mostly dumped into garbage cans.
In a city where garbage cans are hard to find, trash bins overflowing with coffee cups, to the point where people are leaving them sitting on top of and underneath the bins, has become an ordinary scene.
According to data from Seocho District Office in southern Seoul, plastic and paper cups accounted for 70 percent of everything disposed of in public garbage cans last winter.
So far, the authorities have left cafes and street cleaners to figure things out by themselves, but they are looking for better solutions ― to better recycle them or to reduce the use of such cups.
In the case of Seocho, the office found success in May by introducing recycling bins only for coffee cups near Gangnam Station ― 93 percent of the trash was recyclable waste such as cans, bottles and coffee cups, 97 percent of which were the paper and plastic cups from coffeehouses.
Lawmakers are also moving to reduce the use of these cups.
Rep. Moon Jin-kook of the ruling Saenuri Party and 15 other members of the National Assembly recently proposed a revision to the related law requiring cafes to offer refunds for customers returning cups ― between 50 and 100 won per cup. Businesses refusing to offer the refund could be fined up to 3 million won, according to the proposed revision.
The Ministry of Environment, in charge of the nation’s recycling policy, tried something similar in 2002. Together with 13 coffee shops and five fast food chains, the ministry spearheaded a campaign to pay for returned cups.
It was a voluntary initiative among businesses but enjoyed only temporary success. In 2006, 38.9 percent of cups were returned, according to the ministry, up from 23.8 percent three years earlier. It didn’t last long as the motivation of coffee companies dwindled, and the ministry scrapped the project in 2008. Still, some coffeehouses offer incentives to customers who drink from a mug or bring their own cup.
The ministry agrees with the need to reduce the number of cups but is cautious about which measures to adopt, because the refund may give coffee shops an excuse to raise coffee prices.
“We’ve been discussing what to do to induce people and businesses to recycle cups,” said Lee Bo-young from the ministry.
Coffee drinkers seem to have nothing to lose.
“I will certainly be encouraged to return paper or plastic cups for a refund,” said Kim Hyun-hee, a resident in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province. “It would be also nice if the law makes it mandatory for all coffeehouses to provide incentives to those who bring their own cups.”