Disposable Items Must Be Recycled... Busan City Establishes 'Comprehensive Measures to Reduce Single-Use Items'

In the Era of Delivery Culture, Discovering and Promoting Reduction Policies for Single-Use Items by Public and Private Sectors

Prohibition of Use at Public Institutions, Sports Facilities, and City-Hosted Event Venues... Improving Funeral Hall Cul

Usage Status of Single-Use Products in Busan City.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Busan City has established a comprehensive plan on single-use products that not only reduces the use of disposable items but also reuses already used items as recycled resources.

This plan responds to the rapid increase in the use of single-use items such as disposable cups and plastic bags due to lifestyle changes, including the rise of single-person households and the spread of delivery culture.

According to the Ministry of Environment, the annual usage of disposable cups is 2.5 billion (as of 2018), and the estimated usage of plastic bags per person is 420.

The estimated annual usage of disposable cups in the Busan area is 16.5 million, and the usage of plastic bags is estimated at 1.45 billion annually.

Busan City plans to disseminate policies to reduce single-use products to its affiliated public institutions, starting with the public sector to lead the reduction of disposable items, and gradually expanding to the private sector by discovering and promoting policies in fields with high frequency of single-use product usage.

In January, Busan City enacted the "Busan City Disposable Product Reduction Ordinance," establishing a principle to ban the use of disposable products in public institutions, sports facilities, and event venues hosted by Busan City. Even if operated by the private sector, facilities contracted with Busan City under consignment agreements are prohibited from using (bringing in) disposable products.

In the private sector, the use of plastic bags and protective plastic covers in traditional markets and laundries is discouraged. It is estimated that about 430,000 plastic bags are consumed annually in 179 traditional markets in the Busan area, and about 26 million protective plastic covers for laundry are used annually.

Busan City plans to provide and rent recycled shopping bags made from discarded banners in traditional markets and to launch a campaign to discourage the use of protective plastic covers in laundries. Laundry plastic covers that are inevitably used will be encouraged to be reused as recyclable plastic waste.

To reduce the estimated 14.5 million disposable items used annually in funerals, Busan City will also work to improve the culture of disposable product use mainly in funeral halls.

First, disposable products provided for employee funerals in public institutions will be replaced with other service supports, and in consultation with the Funeral Hall Association, the use of reusable containers will be gradually established by 2024.

Recycling processing will be strengthened by improving the public processing rate at recycling sorting centers. Busan City plans to secure the stability of recycling processing and prepare for recycling processing crises by modernizing and expanding aging recycling sorting facilities.

Additionally, reduction measures for plastic bags in pharmacies and disposable containers for delivery will be sought, aiming to gradually reduce the use of disposable products in all areas of citizens' daily lives.

Acting Mayor of Busan, Lee Byung-jin, said, "It is impossible to reduce the use of disposable products without citizens' cooperation," and added, "Although it may cause minor inconvenience to everyone, we hope they will participate in solving environmental issues."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.