4-Month Pilot Project for Reusable Cups... Replaced 440,000 Disposable Cups

SK Telecom-Seoul City-Starbucks Pilot Project

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] Over 440,000 single-use cups have been replaced with reusable cups through a pilot project promoted by SK Telecom, Seoul City, and Happy Connect, aimed at reducing plastic usage.

SK Telecom announced on the 24th that, together with Seoul City, a total of 445,000 reusable cups were used in the pilot project conducted in Seoul from November 6 last year to March 20 this year, maintaining a return rate in the high 70% range.

The return rate of reusable cups in Seoul was 46.9% in early November last year, when the pilot project began, but has steadily risen to the high 70% range this year, showing a rapid upward trend. In the last week of January, it even reached 79.5%.

The reusable cup system works by customers paying a 1,000 KRW deposit when purchasing a drink at a store, receiving the drink in a reusable cup, using it inside or outside the store, and then refunding the deposit through an unmanned reusable cup return machine. The reusable cups are professionally cleaned by the service operator and reused. It is estimated that using a reusable cup 70 times reduces carbon dioxide equivalent to what one pine tree absorbs in a year. This also creates jobs for cleaning personnel.

Nineteen stores, including Starbucks and Dalkom Coffee, participated in this reusable cup pilot project, with 16 return machines installed, saving a total of 445,000 single-use cups. With the nationwide enforcement in April of the ban on single-use items (such as plastic cups) inside food service establishments, the use of reusable cups is expected to increase.

SK Telecom supports the unmanned return machines to accurately distinguish and accept reusable cups by applying Vision AI technology. They have built and operate core infrastructure such as the environmental protection service application ‘Happy Habit App.’ The Vision AI technology, based on deep learning, determines whether to refund the deposit by identifying the authenticity of the cup, remaining beverage, and foreign substances.

Under the shared goal of ‘reducing single-use plastic cups,’ SK Telecom operates the ‘Habit Eco Alliance’ to produce, provide, collect, and recycle reusable cups. This initiative started at the end of 2020 with participation from 23 organizations and companies, including the Ministry of Environment and Seoul City. Last year, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, the Embassy of Sweden in Korea, Kyobo Life Insurance, and GS Caltex joined, and as of March, a total of 51 companies are participating.

Park Yongju, SK Telecom’s ESG Officer, said, “The Happy Habit Seoul City pilot project has been successfully conducted, with a return rate approaching 80%. We will strive to establish this as a national participation platform to solve the single-use plastic container problem by expanding the project area and enhancing return infrastructure.”

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