Starbucks Eliminates Single-Use Cups at Jeju Island Stores

2025 Sustainability Mid-to-Long-Term Strategy First Implementation
Ministry of Environment, Jeju-do, and Korea Airports Corporation Collaborate Public-Private Partnership to Promote Reusable Cups
Starting with 4 Stores, Expanding to All Jeju Stores by Year-End

From the fifth person on the left in the photo: Song Hoseop, CEO of Starbucks Coffee Korea; Han Jeong-ae, Minister of Environment; Won Heeryong, Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (Photo by Starbucks Korea)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Starbucks has decided to eliminate single-use cups at all stores in Korea by 2025, starting its first project in Jeju Island.

On the 2nd, Starbucks Coffee Korea held a business agreement ceremony for a pilot project called ‘Creating a Clean Jeju Without Single-Use Cups’ at the Starbucks Jeju Seohaean-ro DT store, together with seven public and private organizations including the Ministry of Environment, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, Korea Airports Corporation, SK Telecom, CJ Logistics, and Happy Connect.

The ceremony was attended by Han Jeong-ae, Minister of Environment; Won Hee-ryong, Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province; Song Ho-seop, CEO of Starbucks; Son Chang-wan, President of Korea Airports Corporation; Yoon Poong-young, Vice President of SK Telecom; Yoon Jin, Vice President of CJ Logistics; and Yoo Woong-hwan, Chairman of Happy Connect. The participants agreed to work together to reduce the use of single-use cups and promote the use of reusable cups in the Jeju region.

Through this agreement, the Ministry of Environment, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, and Korea Airports Corporation will actively support related policies and administrative matters, while Starbucks, SK Telecom, and CJ Logistics will actively participate in creating an environment to reduce single-use cups by expanding stores using reusable cups and conducting related campaigns in Jeju.

In April this year, Starbucks announced its mid- to long-term sustainability strategy called 'Better Together: Valuable Together,' which includes the challenge of achieving 0% single-use cup usage in all Starbucks stores nationwide by 2025. Starting with this agreement, Starbucks will begin pilot operations of stores without single-use cups in the Jeju region.

Starbucks Reusable Cup Image

First, Starbucks selected four stores?Jeju Seohaean-ro DT, Jeju Aewol DT, Jeju Chilseong, and Jeju Hyeopjae?as pilot operation stores and will start full-scale operation of stores without single-use cups from July 6.

At the pilot stores, customers will pay a deposit of 1,000 KRW for a reusable cup when purchasing a beverage and use the reusable cup (excluding customers who use personal cups). Used reusable cups can be returned at the four pilot stores or at reusable cup return machines installed at Jeju Airport. Once returned, the deposit will be refunded to the consumer, and the collected reusable cups will be thoroughly cleaned by a professional institution and reused in stores.

The deposit can be refunded via Starbucks card balance, points in the Happy Habit application, or cash.

Currently, there are 23 Starbucks stores operating in the Jeju region. Through this pilot operation of four stores, Starbucks plans to continuously improve areas that need enhancement and expand the no single-use cup stores to all stores in Jeju by October. It is expected that expanding reusable cup use in all Jeju stores will reduce approximately 5 million single-use cups annually.

SK Telecom and the social enterprise Happy Connect will manufacture and install reusable cup return machines at Starbucks stores and Jeju Airport to support consumers in easily returning reusable cups. SK Telecom will oversee the Happy Habit project, including building the reusable cup collection and cleaning system and developing a dedicated app, while Happy Connect will be responsible for cleaning reusable cups and managing deposits.

CJ Logistics will transport the collected reusable cups from the return machines to cleaning facilities using CJ Logistics delivery vehicles and then deliver them back to Starbucks stores after cleaning. They also plan to establish an eco-friendly logistics system by introducing electric vehicles in the future.

Han Jeong-ae, Minister of Environment, who attended the agreement ceremony, said, “Now is the time for all of us to become protagonists in practicing a circular economy by distancing ourselves from single-use products and using reusable products. I hope that the culture of resource circulation will settle into our daily lives and spread throughout society, starting with this single-use cup-free coffee shop.”

Won Hee-ryong, Governor of Jeju Province, said, “I am glad that the improvement of environmental issues that we must practice and solve can start first in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. I expect that the pilot project starting in our province will become a standard for related projects nationwide in the future. We will do our best to cooperate between the public and private sectors to create a clean Jeju as well as a clean Korea environment.”

Song Ho-seop, CEO of Starbucks, said, “Starbucks has been striving to find sustainable solutions to reduce single-use products and create an eco-friendly ecosystem to encourage more customers to participate. This agreement, where public and private institutions demonstrate their expertise to create synergy, will become a new paradigm, and we will take the lead in presenting a positive direction.”