Shoppers pack groceries into recycled cardboard boxes outside the cashier line at a Lotte Mart outlet at Seoul Station, Sunday. / Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoon



By Lee Suh-yoon



A trip to a retail grocery store in Korea often involves a stop at the D.I.Y. packing station outside the cashier line. Here, carts full of groceries are emptied into neat, newly taped cardboard boxes ― easy to stack inside car trunks for the ride home.



The boxes are originally used to ship the goods from the suppliers to the retail outlets, and customers reuse them.



Starting November, however, the counters with free cardboard boxes will disappear from major retail stores.



Last Thursday, four major retail chains signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment to halt the provision of cardboard boxes and tape for shoppers.



Like the single-use plastic bag ban in January, the ministry believes closing down free cardboard box packing stations will encourage more people to bring reusable grocery bags.



E-mart, Lotte Mart, Homeplus and Nonghyup Hanaro Mart will take part in the initiative. Ten big and medium-sized retail stores on Jeju Island already implemented their own ban in 2016.



Though the ban is still two months away, some are worried it will inconvenience shoppers.



"How else can people fit all their groceries in their car?" said Kim Jung-geum, 79, as she taped together a flattened instant noodles box at a Lotte Mart outlet in Seoul Station. "It might be less of a problem for me and my husband because we buy less but what about these families here with carts full of groceries? That's at least three or four boxes. You can't fit all that inside reusable bags."



Others don't see the point of the ban, as the boxes are to be discarded even if customers don't use them. However, the ministry says the remaining plastic tape found on the cardboard boxes ― after shoppers use them as transport containers and throw them out with the recycling near their homes ― means they are more likely to join landfills rather than being properly recycled. The tape and cords shoppers use to pack up these boxes also add up to hundreds of tons of single-use plastic waste every year, according to major retail outlets.



News of the ban generated criticism in online communities for housewives and working mothers. Some called it a typical "armchair policy" blind to the realities on the ground.



"Reusable bags can't replace boxes for heavier or bigger products. And when I squish everything inside a shopping bag, the products often get dented or lose their shape," one commented.



"Working couples and parents shop for their groceries in bulk just once a week. We easily fill up two shopping carts. They manage to fit in the trunk because we pack and stack them in boxes," wrote a woman identifying herself as a working mother of a five-member household.



With such inconveniences, some say they would just switch to online grocery shopping entirely. If such sentiments become a general trend, the policy could backfire due to the increased use of "new" cardboard boxes and other delivery packaging for online shopping.



To help shoppers adapt to the new rules, retail outlets said they will sell cardboard boxes on request. The stores also rent out reusable grocery bags for a small deposit, a service provided since the plastic bag ban began in January.

