[Consumer Climate Action Column] Good Policies Lead Consumers to Sustainable Choices

Daehan Song, Advisory Committee Member, iCOOP Cooperative Research Institute

On December 10, 2020, the Government of the Republic of Korea declared the ‘2050 Carbon Neutrality Vision.’

‘Carbon neutrality’ refers to reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by the use of fossil fuels and other sources, and offsetting or removing the inevitably emitted greenhouse gases through forests, wetlands, and other means so that the net emissions become ‘0.’

Accordingly, changes are occurring in various fields, with a representative example being the transition to a ‘plastic-free’ society.

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters will serialize the ‘Consumer Climate Action Column’ to empathize with and participate in the plastic-free movement.

Every time I watch the news, I think we are living in the midst of an ecological crisis. At the center of this crisis is a system that produces unnecessary products and disposes of them within months, days, or even minutes after purchase (single-use products). Moreover, while some people are starving or lack sufficient food and supplies, others waste and discard excessively.

Even consumers who try to make good choices face structural barriers. They have no choice but to buy expensive phones that will be discarded in a few years, purchase essentials (from bananas to spinach) wrapped in Styrofoam trays or plastic wrap at supermarkets, and deal with excessive packaging when buying a single item. And even if we separate recyclables well, not all of them are actually recycled. Therefore, saving the planet cannot be achieved by consumer choices alone.

Fortunately, France has a law that declares war on wasteful production that fuels the ecological crisis. France’s 2020 Anti-Waste and Circular Economy Law, created under the 2015 Paris Agreement to address climate change, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by transitioning from an open linear economy (i.e., production, consumption, disposal) to a closed circular economy (i.e., production, consumption, reuse, recycling).

Beyond environmental protection, it preserves society’s resources by guaranteeing recycling, reuse, and the right to repair, reduces pollutants to protect people’s health, and creates a virtuous cycle of consumption by manufacturing long-lasting and repairable products. It also contributes to communities by creating jobs in repair, recycling, and reuse industries locally, promoting regional economic and industrial development.

The most groundbreaking part of the Anti-Waste Law is waste reduction. It prohibits discarding unsold products and encourages donation to help those in need, while enabling companies to properly adjust production volumes. It promotes repair over disposal and encourages companies to design products that are easy to repair from the outset.

Additionally, it mandates providing an index that scores the repairability of electronic products from 1 to 10 and requires more information on environmental impacts, enabling consumers to support and encourage companies that produce eco-friendly and sustainable products through their purchases.

The law also bans single-use plastic products to eliminate them by 2040, including single-use items at fast-food outlets (2023), disposable cups, plates, cotton swabs (2020), plastic packaging for fruits and vegetables under 1.5 kg (2022), plastic wrapping of newspapers and magazines (2025), and plastic wrapping of advertising leaflets (2023). More importantly, it offers alternatives. Consumers can bring their own containers to stores (2021), and public places, restaurants, pubs, and bars must provide tap water instead of bottled water (2022).

Finally, one of the simplest yet most effective measures to protect people’s health in the law is requiring all washing machines to be equipped with microplastic filters by 2025. The harmful effects of microplastics attacking our bodies are well known. Considering how many synthetic fibers are in clothing, filtering microplastics from washing machines before they mix with sewage is the cheapest, easiest, and most effective solution. In this regard, it is no surprise that other countries and local governments, from Australia (2030) to California, USA (2022), are promoting such industry standards.

Domestically, on September 5, Representative Sujin Lee (proportional representative of the Democratic Party) proposed a bill to improve the structure of electronic products to reduce microplastics. The core of the bill is to enable material and structural improvements so that harmful substances, including microplastics, are not generated during the use of electrical and electronic products or vehicle operation. This amendment proposal is expected to be an important step toward reducing microplastic emissions during washing.

France’s Anti-Waste and Circular Economy Law is the minimal starting point toward a sustainable global economy. As the world’s 10th largest economy, Korea must begin actions befitting its status for the health of the planet and its citizens.

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