Korean Province Targets End to Plastic Pollution

From the right angle, the inside of the Jeju Resources Circulation Center looks more like an amusement park than a recycling plant.

The complex is filled with undulating conveyor belts that rise and fall like roller coaster tracks. But instead of thrill seekers, the belts are carrying a steady stream of shampoo bottles, takeaway containers and other plastic waste. By the standards of recycling centres, this is a high-tech place. Machines, using light pulses, categorize and sort the plastic, with the most valuable waste recycled and sold to local businesses.

The center is part of an ambitious effort to end plastic pollution in the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, a volcanic isle home to 695,000 people in the far south of the Republic of Korea. The push which has relied on a combination of cutting-edge technology, precedent-setting legislation and public awareness raising has helped Jeju ramp up recycling rates and roll out an array of alternative solutions for single-use plastics, long a leading cause of plastic pollution.

The world is swimming in plastic pollution, which has far-reaching consequences for people and the planet, says Elisa Tonda, the Chief of the Resources and Markets Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). But Jeju has shown what governments, businesses and the public can do when they work together to address this mounting crisis.

The province sits in the East China Sea, about 100 km off the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula. As the Republic of Korea underwent rapid economic growth beginning in the 1960s, officials say municipalities struggled to keep up with a rising tide of waste, including, by the 1980s and 1990s, plastic.

In Jeju, plastic replaced traditional earthen-ware pots and bamboo boxes that residents had used to store foods and liquids. Easy, convenient and often cheaper, restaurants abandoned wooden bowls and metal cutlery in favour of single-use plastic stand-ins. Instead of wrapping their products in newspaper, shops began encasing their wares in styrofoam and bubble wrap. Even traditional cloth fishing nets and wooden buoys were abandoned in favour of plastic-based fishing gear, leading to a spike in marine litter.

Jejus challenges were compounded by the provinces remote location, which made it uneconomical to ship scrap plastic to the mainland for processing. At the same time, a steady stream of debris from abroad was washing up on Jejus shores and shrouding coral reefs, the backbone of local fisheries.

Few have seen that more vividly than Youngmi Jang, a 71-year-old member of the haenyeo, a group of female free divers renowned across the country. The ocean was my playground. It was beautiful, filled with things like conch shells and sea cucumbers, says Jang, who has been catching fish and crustaceans in Jejus coastal waters since she was 15. Now the garbage is overwhelming.

To counter the surge, Jeju launched an ambitious campaign to reduce plastic pollution, drawing on the combined might of governments, businesses and citizens. The idea: to reduce the number of single-use plastic products used by consumers while reusing and recycling as much as possible, a process known as circularity.

The provinces goal is to end plastic pollution by 2040. A pillar of that plan is convincing residents to abandon single-use plastics.

Jeju subsidizes reusable containers at local events and festivals, an effort that helped avoid generating 36 tonnes of plastic waste in 2024, province officials say. This year, the province will launch a pilot project to support the rollout of reuseable containers by meal delivery apps. It will subsidize discounts on drinks for customers who bring their own tumblers into cafes and restaurants. And its installing bottle washing machines in public buildings, like universities and libraries.

Many local businesses have embraced circularity as well. That includes Flowermari, a social enterprise that makes plant-based detergents, shampoos and body washes. Many are sold in refillable containers from the companys Refill Store in Jeju. The setup has cut down on plastic packaging and saved customers about 25 per cent on their bills, says representative Sojin Lee.

As a company, we aim to do business in a way that minimizes harm to nature, says Lee. We want Jeju to remain a place where people and nature coexist.

Jeju has also made major investments in its recycling infrastructure. It built 1,700 unstaffed and 200 staffed depots where nearby residents must bring their household waste.