Jeju cafes stop use of reusable cups after provider withdraws

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Jeju cafes stop use of reusable cups after provider withdraws

Published: 04 Jun. 2024, 17:30

CHO JUNG-WOO
cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr

A customer returns a reusable cup at a cafe on Jeju Island. [CHOI CHOONG-IL]

Reusable cups will no longer be available in cafes on Jeju Island starting Tuesday.

According to the Jeju provincial government, 50 coffee shops on Jeju Island, including 30 Starbucks stores, will stop providing reusable cups. These cups, available with a 1,000-won ($0.73) deposit, have been available on the island since July 2021 to help the environment.

Reusable cups are typically recycled into other goods after being used around 70 times.

The provincial government said these environmentally friendly cups would no longer be offered as the supplier, Happy Connect, has decided to withdraw from the island due to financial considerations.

Happy Connect is a social enterprise under the SK Happiness Foundation.

Twelve coffee stores on Udo, off the coast of Jeju Island, will continue to use reusable cups as the area has a separate wash-up facility.

Happy Connect said operations at Jeju's wash-up station were halted late last month due to logistics and labor costs. A total of 24 employees at the washing station collected and washed 8,000 to 10,000 cups daily.

Collection machines will be removed from stores by Aug. 3. After that date, the deposit for all returned cups will be refunded in person, including in cash.

Jeju signed an agreement on the reusable cups with the Ministry of Environment, Starbucks and SK Telecom in June 2021. The project officially began in July across 62 coffee stores in the province, including Udo.

Last year, approximately 3.9 million reusable cups were used across 62 coffee shops.

The reusable cup system will be replaced with a deposit system for single-use cups, requiring customers to pay an additional 300 won as a deposit. The provincial government plans to expand the adoption of the deposit system for disposable cups across Jeju.

Since September last year, the government has recommended that local governments flexibly adopt the single-use cup deposit system. As of January, around 55 percent of stores in Jeju participated in the system, far below last September's 96.8 percent.

BY CHOI CHOONG-IL, CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]