Cafe owners angry over ‘disposable cup deposit system’… “Transfer of Responsibility”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jae-Young Lee = Ahead of the implementation of the ‘disposable cup deposit system’ on the 10th of next month, there is strong opposition from small and medium-sized cafe franchise owners.

This is because large sums of money are required prior to the implementation of the system, and when the system is implemented, profits are cut by tens of won per cup.

While sympathizing with the idea of ​​reducing the use of disposable products, there are especially strong voices complaining about the situation in which the small business owner, who is a small business owner, has to take responsibility for it without any support from the government or the franchise headquarters.

The Ministry of Environment is considering a suspension of enforcement or granting a guidance period, and it is said that the policy will be announced at the earliest after a meeting with franchisees on the afternoon of the 20th.

◇ ‘The sole responsibility of the franchisee’… Initial ‘burden’ of large sums of money

The disposable cup deposit system is a system in which a deposit of 300 won is required to receive beverages in disposable paper cups or plastic cups at cafes. The deposit is refunded when the cup is returned. You can return the cups anywhere, even if you are not at the place where you bought drinks, as long as they are subject to the deposit system (about 38,000 stores of 105 brands).

A barcode sticker is attached to the cup to prevent duplicate payment of the deposit.

Store owners buy barcode stickers at 311 won or 317 won per sheet. The 300 won is a ‘prepayment’ deposit, and the store owner pays 11 won or 17 won additionally, which is a label fee (6.99 won) and a cup processing fee (4 won for standard containers, 10 won for non-standard containers).

Barcode stickers are sold in ‘roll’ units of 1,000 stickers, and if you order less than 6 rolls, free shipping is not available, so sometimes the store owner has to bear this as well.

Store owners also have to pay an additional credit card payment fee for a deposit of 300 won, which is paid along with the drink price.

According to Statistics Korea’s ‘franchise survey results’, coffee and non-alcoholic beverage franchise franchise stores will have an average of 178.7 million won in sales in 2020. Considering the fee for small card merchants with annual sales of 300 million won or less (credit card 0.5%, check card 0.25%), the card payment fee attached to the disposable cup deposit is estimated to be around 1.5 won or 0.75 won.

The fact that a large amount of money is spent at once is also a complaint of the store owners.

Currently, if you order barcode stickers, you are informed that delivery can take up to three weeks.

Store owners point out that from the 10th of next month, beverages cannot be sold in disposable cups without barcode stickers.

Small and medium-sized cafe owners who focus on ‘takeout’ sales are especially complaining about this.

The owner of a franchise cafe in Gyeongsangbuk-do, who sells about 250 drinks per day with disposable cups, said, “If you don’t have a barcode sticker, you can’t sell drinks on disposable cups. It is quite burdensome,” he said.

Store owners also point out that the process of exchanging deposits with consumers is complicated.

The deposit can be returned in coins or transferred to an account, but many people find it cumbersome to carry coins, so most people will choose the latter.

Deposit account transfer must be done through the ‘Resource Circulation Deposit’ application.

When a consumer opens the app and shows a personal barcode, the store owner has to scan (recognize) it and then recognize the barcode on the cup brought by the customer one more time. The store owners claim that it is as easy as taking a drink order.

There is a ‘standalone’ app that allows consumers to get their deposit refunded by themselves, but to do this, a smart device such as a tablet PC is required in the store, and there may be customers who are not used to using it, like when ‘QR check-in’ was implemented in the early days of the Corona 19 crisis. Therefore, it seems that the store owner or staff has no choice but to take care of it.

Store owners also complain of the burden of storing cups returned by consumers until the processing company takes them. In particular, cups containing dairy products such as milk or cream must be washed before storage, but store owners say it is difficult to expect consumers to wash the cups.

In order to avoid having to store returned cups in stores for a long time, the Ministry of Environment has made the standard contract between cafes and cup handling companies set up the cup collection cycle at a ‘number of times’ such as ‘twice a week’.

However, the owners point out that the processing companies only contract in such a way that they collect more than 1,000 cups. In fact, if you look at the contract posted on the website by a processing company, it is stated that the collection cycle is ‘in principle, once a week, but the unit of collection is based on 1,000 pieces’.

Due to this situation, some store owners will not participate in the disposable cup deposit system even if they are fined for negligence. If a consumer brings disposable cups but does not return the deposit, a fine of up to 3 million won can be imposed.

The owner of a cafe in Busan said, “If you buy a drink at a large franchise cafe and return the cups at our store, I can’t do business, but it’s like disposing of garbage instead.” “Even if I pay a fine for negligence, I don’t plan to return the disposable cups right away,” he said.

Franchise headquarters are also dissatisfied.

Confectionery and bakery franchise headquarters are complaining that drinks are not their main product, but they have to deal with cups from other cafes.

◇ Environmental policy pushed back by public opinion… It is a system that was decided to be introduced two years ago, but it is ‘confused’.

No one objected to the need to cut down on disposable cups used in cafes.

It is estimated that 2.8 billion disposable cups are used at franchise headquarters and franchisee stores nationwide, of which 2.3 billion are used in stores where the deposit system is applied.

The problem is that the franchisee is solely responsible for handling the disposable cups.

Franchise headquarters are generally in the position of reviewing support measures.

Accordingly, the Resource Circulation Deposit Management Committee, which determines major issues related to the deposit system, decided to change the system so that only the franchise headquarters can purchase barcode stickers on the 18th.

An official from the Ministry of Environment explained, “There were opinions of legal experts that the headquarters should support the purchase of stickers, even considering the purpose of the Franchise Business Act that the headquarters should support the smooth operation of franchisees.”

However, it does not change that the franchisee bears all of the sticker label and cup processing costs.

The Ministry of Environment discussed with the relevant ministries about not charging a card payment fee on the deposit for disposable cups, but concluded that it was impossible under the current law. A separate support plan is being considered in this regard.

The Ministry of Environment will hold a meeting with the representatives of each brand franchisee on the afternoon of the 20th.

An official from the Ministry of Environment said, “If any decision is made, it will be announced promptly.” “The direction may be announced today.”

Two days ago, as the People’s Power demanded the government to suspend the implementation of the disposable cup deposit system and to grant a training period, the discussion is proceeding rapidly.

If the Ministry of Environment accepts the demands of the ruling party, it may face criticism that it has been pushed back by the political circles and public opinion and has made the environmental policy ineffective.

On the 1st of last month, the Presidential Transition Committee proposed a suspension of enforcement ahead of the re-enforcement of the regulations on the use of disposable products in food service stores.

It seems that both the government and politicians cannot avoid criticism for the fact that the system failed to persuade stakeholders even after sufficient time had passed before implementation of the system, resulting in confusion.

The disposable cup deposit system was decided to be implemented on June 10 of this year as the Resource Recycling Act was revised in June 2020, two years ago.

jylee24@yna.co.kr

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