Food and Beverage Industry Accelerates 'De-Plastic' Movement

A customer at a Starbucks store without disposable cups is returning a reusable cup they used.

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The food and beverage industry continues its efforts to reduce plastic usage. This is attributed to the increased awareness of environmental protection among consumers.

According to the industry on the 9th, Starbucks, a leader in the 'plastic-free' movement, was the first in the industry to introduce paper straws in 2018, reducing the use of over 180 million plastic straws annually. Furthermore, it recently launched the so-called 'Better Together' project, aiming to eliminate disposable cups in all stores across Korea by 2025.

Starbucks plans to gradually introduce reusable cups to replace disposable cups nationwide. First, in the second half of this year, pilot stores will be selected and operated. In these pilot stores, customers will be provided with reusable cups that require a deposit instead of disposable cups. After use, cups can be returned through unmanned return machines at stores operating the reusable cup system, and the deposit will be refunded.

Ediya Coffee signed a business agreement with Hansol Paper in June to develop eco-friendly paper cups. Currently, 11 directly managed stores use the uncoated paper cup 'Terabas.' Going forward, they plan to introduce eco-friendly paper packaging 'Protego' and use paper tissues and packaging materials without plastic in stores.

An Ediya Coffee representative said, "Since July, we have introduced the eco-friendly paper cup Terabas in directly managed stores nationwide to gauge customer responses. After conducting various tests to ensure the coffee's taste and aroma do not change even with long-term use, we plan to expand its use to franchise stores nationwide."

Paul Bassett aims to switch all disposable items used in stores to eco-friendly materials by 2023.

Maeil Dairies, which operates Paul Bassett, started reducing plastic usage by replacing PET containers with paper-based containers. Beginning in June last year, they removed straws from the fermented milk drink 'Enyo100,' followed by the straw-free 'Sangha Farm Organic UHT Milk' and 'Maeil Milk Straw Removed.' The plant-based oat drink 'Amazing Oat,' launched in August, comes with a paper straw.

Maeil Dairies estimates that these efforts will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 1,287 tons. According to Maeil Dairies, this is equivalent to planting about 195,348 30-year-old pine trees.

Lotte GRS recently began using embossed PET cups without brand logo printing for iced beverages at Lotteria stores nationwide. Cups with printed ink cannot be recycled, but embossed PET cups are recyclable.

They plan to first use these cups in about 130 directly managed stores nationwide and then expand to franchise stores. Currently, Lotte GRS explains that this has resulted in a reduction of about 3 tons of plastic straw usage annually. They expect that expanding to all franchise stores nationwide could reduce up to 20 tons annually.