REVISION OF SELF-PACKING TABLE LAWS

[Anchor Lead]

In Korea, there are self-packing tables at supermarkets so that consumers can pack their own groceries when taking them home. A few months ago, the government announced a policy to remove them as a way to reduce the consumption of disposables. But having criticized for being ineffective and bureaucratic, the measure has been eventually revised: only packing tables will be kept with no strings and adhesive tapes provided.

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After checking out, a shopper heads to a self-packing corner at a supermarket. He picks a box and puts the purchases neatly in there. Boxes like these come in handy when people who bought a large number of items didn't bring their own shopping bags.

[Soundbite] (SUPERMARKET CUSTOMER(VOICE MODIFIED)) : "People don't carry shopping bags everyday. If we don't have our own shopping bags, we have to purchase new ones."

The problem is, strings and adhesive tapes are used for tying up the boxes. 658 tons of strings and sticky tapes are used at supermarkets annually. That's an amount enough fill up 857 soccer fields. What's worse is that adhesive tapes make it difficult to recycle and reuse paper boxes. These problems prompted the Environment Ministry to ban the operation of such self-packing tables at supermarkets. The move was agreed upon by the distribution industry. However, the public didn't welcome the measure, saying that it is bureaucratic and expedient to ban the corner entirely because of strings and sticky tapes. Some voiced concerns the changes would lead to increased purchases of unnecessary shopping bags.

[Soundbite] (SUPERMARKET CUSTOMER) : "Boxes are continuously discarded, so why not use them. It is inconvenient to purchase a shopping bag."

In the face of such criticism, the Environment Ministry decided to let supermarkets address the issue on their own. Most companies have decided to retain packing tables without providing strings and adhesive tapes starting next year. The government will come up with a detailed solution after analyzing the results of the pilot programs operated by supermarkets.