0		Plastic, Bag, Use, Increasing, Korea, Despite, New, Law

To reduce demand for plastic bags, in June of last year the government enacted a policy of requiring stores to offer paper bags, but at large chain stores consumption of plastic bags actually increased, a study has found.

The study concluded that the stores are resistant to using paper bags and consumers have an insufficiently "pro-environmental mindset", leading to the consumption of plastic bags.

I went to the Homeplus in Yeongdeungpo early this month. After this reporter made a purchase and requested paper bag at the cash register, the employee replied, "at the register we only have plastic bags. Paper bags are in the customer center," adding, "paper bags aren't free either, you have to buy them... would you buy a plastic bag?" I went to ask for a paper bag at another register, but the reply was the same.

Then I went to the Homeplus in Pungmu. Again there were only plastic bags at the register. I requested a paper bag, but was told to go to the customer center. I went to the customer center and requested a paper bag, but the employee said they cost 50 won. "Aren't you required to offer them?" I asked, but they said, "we can't offer paper bags coated with plastic... we sold them all."

I went to the Yeongdeungpo, Jamshil, and Shindorim locations, but at the register there were only plastic bags. The World Cup Stadium location had paper bags at some of the registers.

At the Lotte Mart cash registers in Guro, Gangbyeon, and Lotte World there are heaps of plastic bags but paper bags are at the customer center. At the Gangbyeon location the customer service had no paper bags, explaining, "we're all out of paper bags."

E-Mart locations in Yeouido, Shindorim, and Yeongdeungpo all had paper bags, unlike the other stores. But some of the registers at the Yangjae and Yongsan Station locations had none.

In this way, most large chain stores keep plastic bags at the register and paper bags at the customer center, doing nothing for the government's pro-environmental policy of reducing demand for plastic bags.

In fact, the three largest stores actually increased sales of plastic bags last year compared the year before.

Last year E-Mart sold 60 million plastic bags (worth W3 billion), 7 million more than the 53 million (worth W2.65 billion) the year before. Homeplus sold 6 million  more than the year before, recording total plastic bag sales of 45 million (worth W2.25 billion). Lotte Mart sold 28.6 million (worth W1.43 billion), 600,000 more than the year before.

These stores sold a total of 133,600,000 plastic bags last year, an 11% over the year before. That makes 2.6 bags per citizen. In total they were worth no less than W6.7 billion.

The stores say that their revenue from the sale of plastic bags is lost to the "shopping-basket discount" and "plastic bag collection fee".

Thus the government's policies and the stores' policies are out of sync, while the consumption of plastic bags continues to escalate despite the need for it to come down.