Plastic-free campaign

By Park Moo-jong

Just 19 years ago in 1999, there was a unique government-led campaign to put a stop to the then unchecked use of plastic bags and other one-time-use items such as disposal cups, dishes and wooden chopsticks.

The then Kim Dae-jung administration (1998-2003) rolled up its sleeves to help prevent our national soil from being contaminated by these objects that do not decay for centuries.

In some aspects, the Republic of Korea was somewhat of a leader in the world at that time in discouraging the use of such items that do not decompose for a long, long time.

The government was resolute enough to ban the use of such disposables and prohibited almost all stores from providing plastic and coated paper shopping bags to their customers free of charge.

Called "vinyl envelopes" here, plastic bags that replaced the traditional brown grocery bags across the world a long time ago, have been used with little consideration for the future of our environment just for their convenience and low cost.

It is teaching grandma to "suck eggs" to explain to somebody that plastic is an undisputed modern convenience that has greatly changed mankind's way of life.

The Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture defines: Plastic is a light artificial material produced chemically that can be made into different shapes when soft, keeps its shape when hard, and is commonly used for making various objects.

Perhaps those over 50 can still vividly remember their mothers or grandmas going to the market with their own shopping baskets (장바구니). In those days, broadsheet newspapers were the "best" wrappers for food, particularly meats and fish, and the wrapped foods were put into the baskets to be carried to the kitchen.

However, thanks to rapid economic growth, people began to forget the baskets and go to department stores and markets empty-handed and returned home with plastic bags or shopping bags made of coated paper that could not be recycled.

In February 1990, I had a chance to visit the then Soviet Union which had no diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea. In Moscow, I found here and there long lines of citizens with empty cloth bags in front of stores. I was curious and asked the guide "Why?"

He said, "A trend. When one finds a long queue in front of a store, he or she, without confirming what is sold there, joins the waiting people because there must be something they need in a time of severe shortages of commodities in the nation."

Now, there is no more such a scene in the capital of Russia in the 21st century.

Let's go back to 1999. Announcing the ban, the government said it would give a three-month grace period for violators, given possible confusion and inconvenience, and then would levy fines of up to 3 million won (so big at that time) against repeat offenders.

Though the effort was well-intended, the then future-oriented policy was not carried out sufficiently due to the lukewarm attitude of both the government and the people, and it eventually fizzled out.

Partially, the policy still works as department stores, supermarkets and other stores do not give plastic bags free of charge. But in reality, most small stores still give "white or black vinyl envelopes" to their customers for free.

Of late, global news reports highlight the "plastic-free" campaign to help end the scourge of plastic pollution, asking people to replace plastic with packaging of paper or pulp trays and paper bags that are recyclable through domestic waste collection or in-store recycling facilities.

Iceland has become the first major retailer globally to go plastic-free on its own label products and aims to complete the move by the end of 2023.

"Iceland has already removed plastic disposable straws from its own label range, and new food ranges set to hit the shelves in early 2018 will use paper-based rather than plastic food trays," a news report said.

The move, which has been welcomed by environmental campaigners, comes amid growing concern over plastic pollution in the world's oceans in particular, where it can harm and kill wildlife such as turtles and seabirds.

As a leader of this kind of campaign two decades ago, the latest global move can provide a good opportunity for the Republic of Korea to become an environmentally-friendly nation both in name and reality.

Old habits die hard, but our new efforts are future-oriented enough to forge a positive change for the next generation and a healthy planet as well as this peninsula.

In the past, people had no problem shopping without vinyl envelopes. Any inconvenience caused by the lack of plastic bags is small compared to the threat their use poses to the environment and our daily life.

Science and technology of today makes it possible to create less environmentally harmful alternatives and there really can be no excuse anymore for excessive use of plastic packaging that creates needless waste and damages our environment.

Now millions of people from nearly 160 countries worldwide are joining the campaign to make a difference for the future of the Earth we live on.

The plastic bottles, bags and takeaway containers that we use just for a few minutes, use a material that is designed to last forever, thus contaminating our environment.

Park Moo-jong is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper founded in 1951 from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com.