Convenience store ”CU” promotes environmental initiatives, providing chopsticks for lunch boxes only upon request (South Korea)

BGF Retail, which operates the convenience store chain "CU," has announced that it will change the material used in all of its lunch box containers from the conventional PP (polypropylene) to PLA (polylactic acid).
PLA is a bioplastic made from plant-based materials such as corn and sugarcane. It can reduce carbon emissions during the production process by up to 50% compared to PP materials.
Theale says that if the company uses about 1,000 tonnes of PLA per year, it can reduce carbon emissions by about 770 tonnes.
Furthermore, microplastics that do not decompose naturally cause problems for the human body and other parts of the body.
Unlike PP, PLA is naturally decomposed by microorganisms under certain temperature and humidity conditions. CU sells more than 30 million lunch boxes per year. The company is targeting approximately 90% of these containers.
The company has changed from PP to PLA. This will be expanded to all lunch box containers within the year. Furthermore, from October 27th, the company will change its policy to provide chopsticks with lunch boxes only upon request.
Instead of attaching a barcode sticker for payment to the top of the lunch box, we will change to a method where the barcode is printed directly on the wrapping paper. This will reduce the amount of stickers used and also improve the quality of the contents of the lunch box.
It also enhances the ability to check the contents.