Disposable Cup Deposits in Korea? 한국의 일회용 컵 예치금

Have you ever heard of disposable cups being deposited in Korea?

This is something that many foreigners do not know about Korea. Here are some facts about disposable cup deposits in Korea!

1. What is it about? 무슨 이야기지?

South Korea had introduced (소개) deposits for disposable cups at food outlets and coffee shops starting in the year 2022.

This action is an effort to cut the amount of carbon emissions (탄소 배출량).

2. How it works and how long it takes? 어떻게랑 얼마동안?

Businesses will factor in the deposits (보증금) in prices and they will refund (환불) customers the amount when they return used disposable cups.

It is said that passed bills to go in effect will take approximately (약) of six months to two years.

3. Plans 계획

The environment ministry (환경부) had mentioned that it is planned to set the amount of deposit based on the manufacturing (조작) costs and policy (정책적) needs.

The ministry expects the policy to help reduce a 66% of carbon emissions by increasing recycling habits and cutting down costs related to waste incineration (소각).

4. Estimation 추정

The economic (경제) benefits estimated coming from the plan had totaled up around 44.5 billion KRW annually.

The minister had also minimized inconvenience (불편) by allowing disposable cup consumers to return the cups anywhere with relevant industries (산업).

5. History 뒷배경

South Korea had first introduced this disposable cup deposit policy back in year 2002. The deposit was ranged (원거리) between 50 to 100 KRW per cup.

However, the plan was scrapped in 2008 due to the lack of legal grounds (법적 근거) as well as issues over management of deposits which were not returned to customers.

6. Actions took 취한 조치

The government then tightened the monitoring of cafes back in year 2018 of cafes which provided disposable (일회용의) cups without checking whether the customer had stayed in or took out.

Which then the cafes were fined (벌금) up to 2 million KRW by breaching the regulation (규제).