"Relief for Small Business Burdens" vs "Environmental Pollution Concerns" Public Opinion Divided on Paper Cup Ban Repeal

Government Withdraws Ban on Paper Cup Use for Small Business Owners
Self-Employed and Environmental Groups Divided on Pros and Cons

The government’s decision to withdraw the ban on disposable paper cup use in restaurants and cafes, citing the burden on small business owners, has sparked divided public opinion. Small business owners have welcomed the move, saying that self-employed people who have sacrificed during the COVID-19 pandemic have also borne the burden of environmental regulations. However, environmental groups are concerned, arguing that the responsibility for environmental pollution should be shared by all citizens.

On the morning of the 9th, Cha Nam-su, Head of Policy and Public Relations at the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise, said on CBS’s "Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show," “(Small business owners) have made so many sacrifices. Even during the COVID period, if told to close, they closed, and if told to prohibit or restrict, they complied.” He raised his voice, saying, “In such difficult times, environmental regulations impose a significant financial burden.”

This reflects the awareness of the problem that, despite faithfully following government measures such as shortened business hours and business suspensions during the height of COVID-19, the government is imposing burdens through environmental regulations. He said, “There are costs involved with environmental regulations, not only labor costs but also many invisible intangible conflicts. For example, if a dishwasher needs to be introduced, there is the cost of purchasing the dishwasher, but also the need to allocate space for it.”

On the 10th, visitors are looking at various custom-made paper cups at the 20th Seoul Cafe Show held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

He also pointed out the lack of public promotion and support before the regulation. He emphasized, “If you are going to do something like this, at least there should be public promotion, and the government or environmental groups should support the issues that have caused ongoing conflicts. I don’t know what they have done. Incentives should be given to small business owners who actively participate, and also to the public, so that something is created that can become a sustainable foundation for the whole country and all citizens to follow in addressing climate change.”

Environmental groups, while understanding the difficulties faced by small business owners, clearly opposed the government’s decision to withdraw the ban on disposable paper cups. Baek Na-yoon, a team leader at the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, pointed out, “It is natural that small business owners feel burdened. But then, who should think about the burden caused by environmental pollution from the overuse of disposable cups and plastic? Who should bear that burden? I hope we can think about this together.”

Team leader Baek emphasized, “We have consistently advocated not using plastic cups inside stores. But saying that not being allowed to use paper cups is really too difficult and burdensome is somewhat hard to agree with. Restaurants and such are already using reusable containers well. Shouldn’t we consider it natural to use reusable cups at least inside the stores?”

She demanded “consistency” from the government. She said, “The ban on disposable products is not a regulation that just suddenly appeared from the sky; it has been a continuous policy on disposable product regulation since before 2019. Consistent policies need to be implemented, and regulations on plastics should continue to expand.”

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Democratic Party also criticized the government’s decision to withdraw the ban on disposable paper cups in a press conference.

At the press conference, the Democratic Party’s Carbon Neutrality Committee stated, “The Ministry of Environment’s ‘Disposable Product Management Plan,’ announced just two weeks before the expiration of the grace period for disposable product use regulations, is effectively a declaration of the nullification of disposable product use regulations and will be recorded as one of the representative cases of regression in the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s carbon neutrality and resource circulation policies.”

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