“We found about 80,000 tons of buoyant plastic currently in the GPGP.” Micro plastics, tiny fragments of plastic smaller than 5mm in size, make up the majority of items in GPGP (Great Pacific Garbage Patch). This trash vortex is getting bigger, and is now estimated to be fifteen times the size of South Korea. 

On May 28, the EU decided to phase out a plan to ban the use of the 10 most widely used the disposable plastic products, including straws and coffee sticks, by 2021. 

Korea’s annual use of plastic for packaging per person is the second largest in the world. The number of vinyl used per person per year is 420 on average, 1.15 per day. The Environment Ministry estimates that 2.6 billion plastic straws are used annually in Korea. The South Korean government also announced it will cut plastic waste by more than 50 percent by 2030. In August, legal regulations imposed up to 2 million KRW in fines for serving beverages in plastic containers in cafes. From Sep.10, Starbucks Korea will begin offering paper straws at all 100 of its stores. It also plans to replace plastic coffee stirrers with wooden ones and introduce plastic cup lids that do not require straws by the end of this year. Angel-in-us Coffee also will begin serving iced drinks in plastic cups that do not require straws. 21 café and fast food franchises signed a voluntary agreement with the Ministry of Environment to cut down on the use of disposable products like cups and straws. Alarmed by the unprecedented growth in plastic cup and straw use in Korea, the government has recently been putting heavy pressure on cafes to cut down on disposable waste.

Scientists warn that plastic waste will outnumber fish in the ocean by 2030 and stress the importance of tightening regulations on plastic waste. It is high-time to take responsibility for the future of the Earth.