Even a single bottle of soju is sincere. It is said that Korea is directly mentioned in the OECD report as “Korea is the world’s best and most eco-friendly in glass bottle recycling”.
That’s understandable. In Europe, the bottles are all different colors, shapes, sizes, and thicknesses, so they’re hard to clean and cost a lot to transport. In the end, they’re just thrown away, but in Korea, the standard design size of soju bottles is the same nationwide, so they’re automatically cleaned, inspected, and reshipped.
Full automation is possible, and it is said that each bottle can be recycled up to 50 times and returned.
In addition, by paying a deposit of 100 to 130 won per bottle, the participation of citizens is increased. As the circular economy is becoming more widespread, problematic soju bottles are crushed into very small pieces and used for cups, lighting, interior decoration, etc.
They say that they tried to follow the Korean system overseas, but they gave up because of difficulties such as bottle specifications, logistics, infrastructure, and cultural differences. It makes me feel proud that Korea is the only country that can actually introduce it. ~