Collected Plastic Bottles Diligently... But 1.2 Billion Won in Unclaimed Money Left Behind

[Anchor]

More than 2,000 machines are installed across the country that accumulate 10 won per plastic bottle inserted. However, many people who diligently collect them end up unable to get their money back in cash.

Confirmed unclaimed amounts alone exceed 1.2 billion won, and Morning Zoom-In investigates the reasons why with Reporter Jang Seon-i.

[Reporter]

This is a plastic bottle recycling machine located in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul.

Users enter their phone numbers on the screen and insert their collected plastic bottles one by one.

10 points, or 10 won, are accumulated per bottle.

Though it is a small amount, many users collect it consistently.

[Nam Jung-eun / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: When you put plastic bottles here, it is 10 won per one. They say you can put up to 30 a day, so I thought rather than just throwing them away, I might as well put them here, and I have been doing it consistently.]

However, the points do not immediately turn into cash.

Users must accumulate at least 2,000 points—meaning they must insert more than 200 plastic bottles—to receive cash in return.

Some companies only disburse cash starting from 3,000 points.

As a result, total unclaimed or uncollected points amount to 1.2 billion won.

The companies cite a lack of manpower as the reason.

[Company A Official: Gaining a minimal (recycling) experience is indeed the original purpose. Due to our manpower constraints and the sheer volume of cases, it is difficult to process and convert everything down to the scale of tens of won right now.]

On the other hand, the government's carbon-neutral point system, a similar policy, deposits money once a month without such cash-out hurdles.

In some regions, local government budgets were used to install recovery machines, but because the operating companies went out of business, users were unable to get their money back at all.

[Lee Hak-young / Member of the National Assembly Committee on Climate and Labor (Democratic Party): Resource circulation support funds that should go back to citizens have vanished into thin air. Now is the time for the central government to step in, closely track, and monitor the situation.]

Since its initial introduction in 2017 to boost plastic bottle recycling rates, a total of approximately 2,300 plastic bottle recovery machines have been installed nationwide.

Institutional improvements appear necessary to further encourage citizens' participation.

(Video Editing: Ahn Yeo-jin, VJ: Shin So-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.