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From June, when ordering drinks at a cafe or fast food restaurant, if you choose a 'disposable cup', a deposit of 300 won will be implemented.



If you bring a cup later, you get the same amount back. Whether this system will be well established or whether it will be a solution to the plastic waste problem, environmental reporter Jang Se-man pointed out.



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Lunch time, a coffee shop.



I ordered a cold drink and placed a paper cup on top of a clear plastic cup. Two disposable cups only.



[Cafe staff: (Can you give me two cups like this?) Because there are 4 types of coffee, I can’t tell them apart… .]



The use of disposable cups has increased since Corona, but the recycling rate is estimated to be less than 5%.



From June, things will be different.



When ordering drinks at cafes and fast food restaurants, you have to pay an additional deposit of 300 won per cup.



If you bring the cup to the store, you can get it back, and the target is a franchise that has more than 100 franchisees, and most of the big brands we know are covered here.



Small cafes are left to their autonomy.



It is not necessary to take the used cup to that brand or store, so you can return it to any brand or store, and you can get a refund with not only cash but also a credit card.



What will happen to the paper cups left on the street?



If anyone picks it up and returns it, you can get 300 won.



It's like cash, so disposable cup waste will be significantly reduced.



But there are concerns.



The deposit is much higher than the cost of making cups, so it can be used to make and return fake cups in China and other places.



The government decided to prevent forgery by attaching an anti-counterfeiting sticker made by the Mint.



In fact, the deposit system has been implemented for nearly five years since 2003, but the return rate was only 20-30% because it was not legally required and the deposit was also small at 50-100 won.



In addition, it was eventually abolished as it was revealed that the companies took the deposits that customers did not visit as promotional expenses.



This time, the Ministry of Environment's plan is to create a center that manages only deposits to prevent such problems at the source.



(Video editing: Park Ki-duk, CG: Choi Jae-young, VJ: Park Hyun-woo)