Korea consumed 940 mil. disposable cups last year

Disposable paper and plastic cups are stacked at a franchise cafe in Seoul, Sept. 7, 2023. Yonhap

The use of disposable cups in franchise cafes and fast-food chains was still high last year, while there was a decline in the collection rate of used disposable cups for recycling, which prompted concerns about the effectiveness of government policies on single-use items.

According to the Ministry of Environment, Sunday, 940 million disposable cups were used at franchise cafes and fast-food chains last year, which had agreements with the ministry to reduce the use of the single-use products. This figure includes 382 million paper cups and 558 million plastic ones.

The total number of used disposable cups decreased by 9.3 percent compared to the year before last which marked more than 1 billion in usage.

However, last year's data was based on 17 brands, whereas the previous year's data included 19 brands, including two that did not renew their agreements with the ministry. This reduction in the number of brands could also have contributed to the decrease in reported disposable cup usage.

Last year saw a 21.6 percent increase in usage compared to 2019, when the use of disposable cups stood at about 773 million before their usage soared during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The environment ministry stated that this year's policies regarding single-use products would emphasize encouraging self-regulation, taking into account the practicality of relevant rules.

It also announced its decision not to enforce regulations on disposable cup usage last November. This move faced backlash for backtracking on the policy to reduce the use of disposable items, which has posed a serious national concern.

Posters and signs promote a deposit system for disposable cups. Korea Times file

Increasing the recycling rate is crucial, especially if reducing disposable cup usage proves challenging.

To ensure high-quality recycling, it's crucial to collect cups from each brand separately, as cups of the same material need to be grouped together.

Nevertheless, the number of disposable cups returned to stores last year decreased by more than half compared to the previous year, with only 4.7 percent of cups recovered, down from 9.7 percent in 2022.

The ministry attributes this decline in collection rates to the decrease in disposable cup usage in stores following the end of the pandemic. During the pandemic, people opted for disposable cups due to infection concerns, but now, the use of multi-use cups in stores, may have led to the reduction in disposable cup returns.

To address this, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and Sejong City implemented a deposit system for disposable cups in December 2022.

The deposit system involves an additional charge of 300 won (22 cents) for customers at coffee shops who choose disposable cups and receive a refund upon returning them.

However, even with this deposit system, the return rate has been declining in Jeju these days.

While the system initially achieved a 96.8 percent participation rate, it dropped to 54.7 percent in January this year. The ratio of returned cups to disposable cups used at participating stores also decreased from 78.5 percent last October to 60.7 percent in January this year.

The ministry has not come up with a nationwide plan to extend the deposit system, following its reduction in Sejong and Jeju last December. Consequently, concerns have been raised about the burden placed solely on local governments to enforce the system.