By Kim Se-jeong
Staff reporter
You can see them everywhere around the world, but they seem to be most prevalent in Korea.
From coffee vending machines out in the street, coffee shops and restaurants to offices, they are ubiquitous. And they are seemingly used with abandon.
A week-long survey conducted in The Korea Times office in Seoul is a good illustration of how badly we are addicted to paper cups.
On an average day, there are about 20 reporters in the news room. They were found to throw away a total of 242 paper cups in the span of six days, roughly 40 cups per day. The figure boils down to at least two paper cups per person per day.
These numbers raise eyebrows as they seem to run counter to the government’s new and aggressive advocacy for fighting climate change and pursuing green growth.
In 2008, the government voluntarily pledged that it would come up with a national emission reduction target. At the end of last year, Cheong Wa Dae announced Korea’s reduction target will be four percent by 2020 from the 2005 levels.
It also put out the slogan of “green growth,” introducing “The Basic Act on Low Carbon Emissions.”
Also, the government established a Greenhouse Gas Inventory and a research center for monitoring gas emissions and the development of green growth related facilities.
Finding an answer to that question remains elusive, for there are so many independent producers and seemingly nobody keeps track of the number.
According to the Paper Cup Producers Association (tentative title) consisting of 50 local producers, nearly 11.6 billion paper cups are produced every year.
This number is only a part of the whole number because there are 70 other producers that operate independently, making obtaining accurate data even more difficult.
A few of them export their products to Japan in unknown quantities, according to the association.