Use of disposable cups, items banned in cafes, restaurants

Workers at a coffee house in central Seoul arrange reusable cups, March 31, one day ahead of the activation of a regulation banning the use of disposable items inside cafes and restaurants. Yonhap

The use of disposable items, such as single-use plastic cups and cutlery, will be banned inside cafes and restaurants under a new environmental regulation that went into force Friday.

This is a reinstatement of the environment ministry's “anti-disposable law” that first went into effect in 2018, but was temporarily lifted with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 amid concerns reusable cups and cutlery could become a source of infection.

The ministry has decided to bring it back as the prolonged pandemic led to a surge in waste.

Under the latest regulation, 18 disposable items, including single-use serveware, cutlery, toothpicks and plastic tablecloths, are banned from use inside cafes and restaurants.

Cafes and restaurants are also prohibited from providing free plastic or other disposable bags, except paper ones.

Several new items, such as plastic straws, stir sticks and paper cups, will be put on the prohibition list Nov. 24, the ministry said.

A violation could lead to fines according to the frequency of infringement and the size of stores, but the ministry said it is planning to rely on administrative guidance and instruction, rather than penalties, to ensure compliance until the pandemic subsides. (Yonhap)