From June 10, the disposable cup deposit system, which includes a resource circulation deposit of 300 won per disposable cup, will be implemented in the product price at major coffee shops and fast food stores nationwide.
The Ministry of Environment is making a preliminary notice of legislation for 40 days from the 25th of the enforcement decree and enforcement regulations of the Act on Promotion of Saving and Recycling of Resources, and partial amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Transboundary Movement of Waste and its Disposal, which contain these contents.
The disposable cup deposit system according to the amendment will be applied and implemented at 38,000 stores nationwide from June 10. These stores include △Coffee stores such as Ediya, Starbucks, A Twosome Place, △Confectionery and bakery stores such as Dunkin Donuts, Paris Baguette, and Tous Les Jours △Lotteria, Mom’s Touch, McDonald’s, Burger King, etc. Stores △Including stores operated by businesses with more than 100 stores nationwide, such as Gongcha, Smoothie King, and other beverage outlets such as Juicy.
Disposable cups subject to the deposit system are mainly plastic cups for cold drinks and paper cups for hot drinks, and multi-use plastic cups or mugs that are collected and washed after use are excluded.
It is estimated that 2.8 billion cups are used annually in stores operated by franchisees and franchisees nationwide that sell beverages using disposable cups, of which 2.3 billion are used in stores where the deposit system is applied.
Consumers pay a deposit when purchasing beverages in disposable cups, and return the cups to the store where they purchased the beverage or to another store (including other franchise stores) to get the deposit back.
You can conveniently get your deposit back at any store that accepts the deposit system, and you can get your deposit back even if you pick up a disposable cup left on the street and return it to the store.
Deposit is paid in the method desired by the consumer, either through account transfer or cash payment, and the account transfer is transferred to his or her account through a pre-installed mobile app after a few minutes to up to an hour through computerized processing between the store-deposit system-financial institution, Cash payments can be received directly from the store.
When the cup is brought to the store to receive the deposit, a barcode readable device (POS, Point Of Sales) recognizes the barcode attached to the cup and the deposit is returned. Therefore, even if the cup is returned once, it is recognized that it is not subject to deposit payment, so double return is not possible. On the surface of the cup, an anti-counterfeiting and tampering prevention sticker manufactured by Korea Minting Corporation is also attached.
The deposit amount was set at 300 won considering the results of a consumer survey and the fact that the tumbler discount benefits of major franchises are around 300 won.
The Ministry of Environment is planning to designate standard specifications so that cups can be stacked for convenience in storage and transportation because the deposit can be returned even when returning cups purchased at different franchise stores.
The plastic cup material is made of colorless and transparent PET, and surface printing is prohibited so that it can be used as a high-quality recycled material. The paper cups allow for an inner coating at a level that is not a problem for the paper company to recycle and minimize surface printing.
To ensure that the cups recovered from stores are properly recycled, 3-5 collection companies and 1-2 specialized recycling companies will be designated for each region. Just hand over the cup.
The use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC, Polyvinyl Chloride) packaging materials used as wraps for livestock and fishery products in large marts will be completely banned from 2024. Since the early 2000s, polyethylene (PE, polyethylene) material has been mainly used for food packaging wraps used at home instead of polyvinyl chloride.
PVC materials are known to cause various problems, such as generating harmful chemicals such as hydrogen chloride in the recycling process, and shortening machine life by causing corrosion. Therefore, if other materials are used, such as pressure packaging for pharmaceuticals, △ ham and sausages for distribution and sale at room temperature can cause problems with the function of the packaging material △ Pressure-packed pharmaceuticals, quasi-drugs and health functional food △ Shrink packaging of livestock products requiring refrigeration △ Separation from the body It is planned to ban the use of PVC material, except for some items, such as when PVC is applied to the inside of a metal stopper.
The Ministry of Environment plans to induce it to be replaced with other materials such as polyolefin (PO, Polyolefine) that is easy to recycle while having similar performance to PVC packaging materials. At the same time, management of PVC packaging materials will be changed from the mandatory producer responsibility recycling to items subject to the waste charge, and the specific waste charge rate will be set in consideration of the treatment conditions and overseas cases comprehensively.
The Ministry of Environment plans to ban the use of plastic disposable wipes (including tissues moistened with water) in food service establishments such as restaurants and cafes by adding them to the regulated disposable products. Wet wipes used at home are not subject to regulation.
In addition, it was decided to establish a more stable carton recycling system by inducing the formation of an appropriate market price for each carton type by differentiating the recycling standard cost of carton packaging materials by reflecting the different recycling conditions of normal packs and sterile packs.
Recently, the use of sterilization packs is increasing due to the spread of non-face-to-face consumption due to Corona 19, but there was a difficulty in recycling because the market unit price corresponding to the high recycling cost was not formed.
Therefore, reflecting the actual recycling cost, the standard recycling cost for paper cartons, which was 185 won per kg, will be set at 519 won/kg and 279 won/kg, respectively, by dividing them into sterilized packs and regular packs from 2023.
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