{"id":2202677,"date":"2023-11-08T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T23:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/?p=2202677"},"modified":"2023-11-07T18:02:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T09:02:12","slug":"south-korea-suspends-plastic-straw-ban-to-ease-small-business-economic-burden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/11\/south-korea-suspends-plastic-straw-ban-to-ease-small-business-economic-burden\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea suspends plastic straw ban to ease small business\u2019 economic burden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South Korea&#8217;s Ministry of Environment on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yna.co.kr\/view\/AKR20231107033900530?section=search\">Tuesday<\/a> announced it will suspend a ban on plastic straws and paper cups in cafes and plastic bags in convenience stores to reduce the economic strain on small business owners grappling with <a href=\"https:\/\/en.yna.co.kr\/view\/AEN20231106008700320?section=news\">inflation<\/a>, rising production costs and skyrocketing interest rates. Despite concerns from experts about increased waste and poor recycling rates if deregulation occurs, Vice Minister Lim Sang-jun <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yna.co.kr\/view\/AKR20231107096500530\">faulted<\/a> the initial policy\u2019s inadequacies and emphasized that regulation alone is insufficient for achieving sustainability.<\/p>\n<p>The suspension is partly a response to the lack of public support for paper straws in Korea, often <a href=\"https:\/\/news.nate.com\/view\/20230608n09733\">seen<\/a> as less recyclable and more costly. The Small Business Association <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donga.com\/news\/Economy\/article\/all\/20231107\/122059879\/1\">welcomed<\/a> the decision to lift the ban, citing rising operational costs and customer disputes that it has brought. The Yoon Suk-yeol administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yna.co.kr\/view\/AKR20231107033900530?section=search\">introduced<\/a> a ban on paper and plastic disposables in late Nov. 2022, inheriting the previous Moon Jae-in administration&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yna.co.kr\/view\/AKR20231107065900530?utm_source=dable\">initiative<\/a> to cut the use of disposable paper cups from 84 billion to 55 billion annually. The policy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edaily.co.kr\/news\/read?newsId=02640406635803424&amp;mediaCodeNo=257\">included<\/a> fines of up to $2,290 (3 million won) for businesses that use paper cups and plastic straws in stores, with a one-year grace period due to expire this month.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why It Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Suspending the penalties without a solid long-term alternative comes at the cost of South Korea&#8217;s international standing as a responsible country committed to reducing plastic waste, and is at odds with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ekoreanews.co.kr\/news\/articleView.html?idxno=62447\">global trend<\/a> of tougher plastic regulations to combat marine litter and issues related to microplastics. As the country gears up to <a href=\"https:\/\/en.yna.co.kr\/view\/AEN20231023005900315\">host<\/a> a U.N. committee to draft a globally binding agreement on tackling plastic pollution next year, such a decision could cast doubt on its dedication to combating such challenges. According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/nap.nationalacademies.org\/catalog\/26132\/reckoning-with-the-us-role-in-global-ocean-plastic-waste\">report<\/a> by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, South Korea ranks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yna.co.kr\/view\/AKR20211202070000009\">third<\/a> in the world in annual plastic waste emissions per capita (88kg) following the U.S. and the U.K., and ranks <a href=\"https:\/\/m.heraldeco.com\/content\/news_view.php?pk=1478#:~:text=%ED%95%9C%EA%B5%AD%EC%9D%80%20%EC%A1%B0%EC%82%AC%20%EB%8C%80%EC%83%81%EA%B5%AD%20%EC%A4%91,(88%E3%8E%8F)%20%EC%88%9C%EC%9D%B4%EB%8B%A4.\">top<\/a> in the proportion of plastic among annual waste \u2014 24.3%.<\/p>\n<p>The move also risks politicizing environmental issues. Environment <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ytn.co.kr\/_ln\/0103_202311071446405317\">advocate<\/a> groups called the decision \u201cpopulist\u201d and negligent. The opposition Democratic Party <a href=\"https:\/\/m.joongdo.co.kr\/view.php?key=20231107010002287\">accused<\/a> the government of favoring business owner votes in the 2024 general elections over addressing the future generation\u2019s environmental concerns. Such criticism is in line with how the DP portrayed the administration\u2019s sudden eight-month ban on <a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/11\/south-korea-suspends-short-selling-for-8-months-despite-economists-criticism\/\">stock short-selling<\/a> and the conservative\u2019s controversial efforts to <a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/11\/ruling-partys-seoul-vision-risks-politicization-accusations-ahead-of-election\/\">merge<\/a> Gimpo with Seoul\u00a0 to make a \u201cmega city.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"content-tags\"><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/business-economy\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Business &amp; Economy<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/culture-society\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Culture &amp; Society<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korea&#8217;s Ministry of Environment on Tuesday announced it will suspend a ban on plastic straws and paper cups in cafes and plastic bags in convenience stores to reduce the economic strain on small business owners grappling with inflation, rising production costs and skyrocketing interest rates. Despite concerns from experts about increased waste and poor [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5770,"featured_media":2202678,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[24,25],"class_list":["post-2202677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-briefings","tag-business-economy","tag-culture-society"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>South Korea suspends plastic straw ban to ease small business\u2019 economic burden - KOREA PRO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/11\/south-korea-suspends-plastic-straw-ban-to-ease-small-business-economic-burden\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Korea suspends plastic straw ban to ease small business\u2019 economic burden - KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Korea&#8217;s Ministry of Environment on Tuesday announced it will suspend a ban on plastic straws and paper cups in cafes and plastic bags in convenience stores to reduce the economic strain on small business owners grappling with inflation, rising production costs and skyrocketing interest rates. Despite concerns from experts about increased waste and poor [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/11\/south-korea-suspends-plastic-straw-ban-to-ease-small-business-economic-burden\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nknewsorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-07T23:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-07T09:02:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/11\/drinking-straws-8001_1920-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeongmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@southkoreapro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@southkoreapro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"KOREA PRO\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/11\/south-korea-suspends-plastic-straw-ban-to-ease-small-business-economic-burden\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/11\/south-korea-suspends-plastic-straw-ban-to-ease-small-business-economic-burden\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeongmin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#\/schema\/person\/66a3b705c65f3c50916a5c126f8a718c\"},\"headline\":\"South Korea suspends plastic straw ban to ease small business\u2019 economic burden\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-07T23:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-07T09:02:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/11\/south-korea-suspends-plastic-straw-ban-to-ease-small-business-economic-burden\/\"},\"wordCount\":414,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/11\/south-korea-suspends-plastic-straw-ban-to-ease-small-business-economic-burden\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.korearisk.com\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/11\/drinking-straws-8001_1920-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Business &amp; 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