SEOUL, April 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Food and beverage manufacturers are complaining that the government’s upcoming policy requiring companies to pay a deposit for using a designated number of disposable plastic cups, aimed at raising the waste recycling rate, imposes the cost on the companies only.
The new policy will require companies to request the number of label stickers equivalent to the number of plastic cups that will be used by the companies from the Container Deposit System Management Organization (COSMO) and pay a deposit.
Plastic cups cannot be used for sale unless the COSMO label is attached. The price of each drink will include an additional 300 won to cover the deposit.
The problem lies in what would happen if the company fails to sell all of the plastic cups. This would mean that the company will have paid a deposit for plastic cups that they never got to sell.
“This would mean that some companies might face a serious cost burden if they have a significant number of cups that remain unused. Many companies doubt if they will be able to retrieve the deposits, along with interest, in due time,” a food industry source said.
Companies also complained that the new policy will impose other undefined additional costs solely on them.
“The labor and facility cost paid to clean and store plastic cups returned by the customers is solely borne by the companies themselves,” an official at a confectionery company said.
“The cost of distribution, in which the company headquarters receives the stickers and distributes them to local stores, will also be considerable.”
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