Starbucks to Eliminate Single-Use Cups at Jeju Stores Within the Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] All single-use cups will disappear from Starbucks stores in the Jeju area within this year.

Starbucks Coffee Korea announced on the 22nd that it will complete the expansion of reusable cups at all 23 Starbucks stores in the Jeju area by the end of the year.

Currently, four stores?Jeju Seohaean-ro DT, Jeju Aewol DT, Jeju Chilseong, and Jeju Hyeopjae?that are operating as pilot stores without single-use cups provide beverages in store mugs and personal reusable cups, and also offer reusable cups for customers upon request with a deposit of 1,000 KRW.

Used reusable cups can be returned for a deposit refund at Starbucks pilot stores or Jeju Airport. By the end of this year, return machines will be installed in all 23 Starbucks stores across Jeju Island. Next month, additional return machines will be installed: one more at Jeju Airport, two at GS Caltex gas stations, and one at SK Rent-a-Car.

The deposit can be refunded via Starbucks card balance, points within the Happy Habit application, or cash. Collected reusable cups undergo a thorough cleaning process at specialized facilities, including exterior inspection, pre-washing, disinfectant soaking, high-pressure automatic washing, drying and natural air drying, followed by UV sterilization. After cleaning, sample surface contamination measurements are conducted to ensure cleanliness and safe reuse.

Over the past three months, approximately 200,000 single-use cups have been saved through the use of reusable cups at the four pilot stores. If reusable cup usage expands to all stores in Jeju, it is expected to reduce over 5 million single-use cups annually. End-of-life reusable cups will be upcycled into raw materials for other products instead of being simply discarded.

In April, Starbucks announced a mid-to-long-term sustainability strategy aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 30%, including a challenge to achieve 0% single-use cup usage by 2025 through the introduction of reusable cups nationwide. In June, Starbucks signed a business agreement for a pilot project called “Creating a Clean Jeju Without Single-Use Cups” 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. Since July, the reusable cup pilot project has been underway at four stores in Jeju.

SK Telecom and the social enterprise Happy Connect manufacture and install reusable cup return machines at Starbucks stores and Jeju Airport, supporting consumers to easily return reusable cups and managing deposit refunds. CJ Logistics collects reusable cups through the return machines, transports them to cleaning facilities using its delivery vehicles, and then delivers the cleaned cups back to Starbucks stores.

Starting with 100% expansion to all stores in Jeju within this year, Starbucks plans to gradually expand reusable cup operations to other regions and aims to stop using single-use cups at all stores nationwide by 2025.