SEOUL, March 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Coffee shops will now be able to recycle coffee grounds through more lenient requirements and procedures.
The Ministry of Environment announced that it will designate coffee grounds as a ‘circulation resource’ starting on Tuesday.
With the increasing amount of coffee consumption in South Korea, the volume of coffee grounds grew from 93,397 tons in 2012 to 149,038 tons in 2019, up by a factor of 1.6.
However, coffee grounds have been regarded as trash, and had to be thrown away in designated waste bags for incineration or be dumped.
Under the Wastes Control Act, only authorized agencies were able to collect and process the coffee grounds, making it difficult for coffee wastes to be recycled.
Now, with the new measure in place, coffee grounds are expected to be used for various purposes, including making compost, construction materials, and plastic products.
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