Seoul to ban use of disposables at events with more than 1,000 people gathered from September

Starting in September, the use of disposable products will be banned at events where more than 1,000 people are expected to gather in downtown Seoul. Organizers will also be required to come up with measures to reduce waste when planning festivals.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on May 20 that regulations on disposable products will be strengthened following the revision of the “Waste Management Ordinance of the Seoul Metropolitan Government” in March.

According to the ordinance, a waste reduction measure must be included in the preliminary plan for events where more than 1,000 people gather in Seoul. Ahead of the implementation of the policy in September, Seoul will create guidelines for the reduction of waste generated from events. It will also greatly expand the use of multi-use containers at multi-use venues that generate large amounts of disposable waste.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has introduced the use of multi-use cups and containers at Jamsil Baseball Stadium since the 2023 regular season in order to reduce the amount of waste that have increased due to the spread of non-face-to-face consumer culture, such as food delivery service, after the coronavirus pandemic. Baseball stadiums account for more than one-third of waste generated from sports facilities nationwide.

Since then, the number of single-use disposables used has dropped by about 230,000, Seoul analyzed. As of last month, 38 vendors at Jamsil Baseball Stadium were selling food and drinks in multi-use containers.

In addition, the Seoul Medical Center was designated as a “disposable-free funeral hall” in July last year and has used multiple containers while welcoming 200,000 mourners from nine mortuaries since then. As a result, an average of about 15 tons of waste was reduced per month. In the first half of the year, the introduction of multi-use containers will be increased to three city funeral halls, including Seoul Metropolitan Dongbu Hospital.

This year, the city has also been encouraging the private sector to speed up the reduction of single-use products.

In the second half of the year, multiple-use containers will be used at the funeral hall of Samsung Medical Center, and in coffee shops in the city, if consumers order drinks in a personal cup and pay with Seoul Pay, 300 won points will be accumulated per order. If you use your own cup every day, you can earn up to 9,000 won a month. Points can be redeemed like cash and can only be earned at stores participating in the “"Personal Cup Points System."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.