Plastic Out! The Ministry of Environment’s Plastic-free Measures!
At the 120 th meeting of government current affairs, the Ministry of Environment announced plastic-free measures to solve the increasing plastic municipal waste and the marine pollution issues. Let ’ s find out more details! Critical increase of plastic waste The outbreak of COVID19 pandemic has changed our lifestyle since last year. Telecommuting, online lessons, and the ban on gatherings brought high demands on food and parcel delivery and this naturally caused a sharp increase of household waste. The production rate of plastic waste in the first half of 2020 is 8.48 million tons which is 15.6% higher than last year. On the other hand, the recycling rate has continuously decreased from 57.9% in 2015 to 40.6% in 2019. Korean Government has introduced various policies in order to reduce the use of plastic, but the practical effect is still questionable. The Ministry of Environment is now presenting a more fundamental policy to decrease the plastic waste by 20% ...