"Paper Shopping Bags, 100 Won Charge" Starbucks Switches to Paid Sales

New Shopping Bag Policy Effective from the 20th
Reusable Bags Sold for 500 Won...Strengthening Eco-Friendly Policies
Portion of Sales Donated to Environmental Fund

Starbucks is strengthening its eco-friendly policies and promoting the use of personal reusable bags by offering 'paper shopping bags' and 'reusable bags for beverage delivery' for a fee.

Starbucks Korea announced on the 5th that starting from the 20th of this month, it will implement a new shopping bag policy where paper shopping bags will be sold for 100 KRW regardless of size, and reusable bags for beverage delivery will be sold for 500 KRW. Until now, Starbucks has provided paper shopping bags and reusable bags free of charge for customers' convenience when carrying purchased items outside.

This new policy aims to reduce the increasing annual usage of paper shopping bags and reusable bags. Starbucks targets a 50% reduction in usage compared to the previous year within this year. In terms of weight, this reduction amounts to about 320 tons, which is equivalent to saving 13.43 million liters of water and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 526 tons. In particular, Starbucks plans to allocate a portion of the sales revenue from paper shopping bags and reusable bags to an environmental fund and donate it to local communities.

Customers who wish to purchase paper shopping bags or reusable bags can pay the corresponding amount when placing their order. Separate purchases of only paper shopping bags or reusable bags, as well as exchanges or refunds for used shopping bags, are limited. The durability of the paper shopping bags has been enhanced to allow for multiple uses as much as possible.

Starbucks has been implementing various policies to raise awareness of the need for environmental protection and to help establish an eco-friendly consumption culture in customers' daily lives. Starting with the 'No Disposable Cup Store Campaign' in 2011, which provided reusable cups to customers dining in stores, Starbucks signed a voluntary agreement with the Ministry of Environment and the Resource Circulation Social Solidarity in 2018 to provide paper straws, and introduced lids that can be used without straws in the same year. Benefits for customers using personal cups have also been steadily increased. Since January 2022, Starbucks has strengthened the beverage discount for personal cup use from 300 KRW to 400 KRW.

As a result, the number of personal cup uses at Starbucks last year increased by 16.2% compared to the previous year, reaching a record high of 29.4 million uses. The total amount of benefits provided to customers last year is estimated to be about 13.8 billion KRW. Kim Ji-young, head of Starbucks Korea’s ESG team, said, “We are introducing a new shopping bag policy to minimize the use of disposable products in stores and encourage the use of personal reusable bags. Going forward, Starbucks will continue to support customers in easily engaging in eco-friendly activities in their daily lives through various policies aimed at environmental protection and resource conservation.”