Editing Soju (section)

== Bottles and recycling ==
[[File:Soju assortiment in fridge door.jpg|thumb|Bottles of different soju brands.]]
Soju is a popular Korean alcoholic beverage, with over 917 million liters being sold in Korea.<ref>{{Citation |last=Kim |first=Tae Wan |title=Chapter 5 - Korean soju |date=2022-01-01 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128220764000176 |work=Whisky and Other Spirits (Third Edition) |pages=63–74 |editor-last=Russell |editor-first=Inge |access-date=2023-11-30 |publisher=Academic Press |doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-822076-4.00017-6 |isbn=978-0-12-822076-4 |editor2-last=Stewart |editor2-first=Graham G. |editor3-last=Kellershohn |editor3-first=Julie}}</ref> In 1994 Doosan Beverage started using green 360ml bottles to associate Soju with being clean and fresh; being a great success, other brands started using the same bottles.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2022-05-28 |title=[WHY] A look through green-tinted glasses at Korea's soju obsession |url=https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/05/28/why/korea-soju-drink/20220528082411808.html |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=[[Korea JoongAng Daily]] |language=en}}</ref>

In 2009 seven soju companies made a voluntary agreement to start manufacturing soju in the same sized green bottle with the same design, these bottles can then be sold back to and reused by soju manufacturers.<ref name=":1" /> While the program was voluntary, it was beneficial to the companies producing soju by saving 88&nbsp;won per bottle.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |script-title=ko:빈용기보증금 제도개선의 효과 분석 |url=http://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART002541268 |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=www.kci.go.kr}}</ref> While this simple idea allowed multiple companies to recycle the same bottle, increasing their savings while benefiting the environment, consumer participation needed to be improved. In 2015 South Korea revised an act that promoted recycling and it was found that the return of soju bottles increased significantly. The system was further improved in 2016, and the deposit was increased in 2017; in 2018 the recovery rate of soju bottles was 97.2% compared to 87.9% in 2015.<ref name=":2" />

The return of recyclable materials is driven by South Korea's Beverage Container Deposit System. This system imposes a deposit on recyclable containers that is included in the sale price and refunded upon return.<ref>{{Cite web |title=KECO |url=https://www.keco.or.kr/en |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=www.keco.or.kr |language=en}}</ref> South Korea is recognized as a leading country when it comes to recycling, with Yale's Center for Environmental Law and Policy ranking South Korea as number one with an environmental performance index score of 67.1/100.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Recycling {{!}} Environmental Performance Index |url=https://epi.yale.edu/epi-results/2022/component/rec |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=epi.yale.edu|date=May 26, 2022 }}</ref> South Korea attributes their success to volume-based fees for waste management. With this system households purchase government-issued trash bags while recyclables are separated and collected for free.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Park |first=Seejeen |date=2018-04-01 |title=Factors influencing the recycling rate under the volume-based waste fee system in South Korea |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X18300084 |journal=Waste Management |volume=74 |pages=43–51 |doi=10.1016/j.wasman.2018.01.008 |pmid=29352634 |bibcode=2018WaMan..74...43P |issn=0956-053X}}</ref> Local governments set the price of these bags based on volume and are adjusted to reflect the cost of the waste management process.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Two Decades in Effect: Volume-Based Waste Fee System in South Korea {{!}} Green Policy Platform |url=https://www.greenpolicyplatform.org/national-documents/two-decades-effect-volume-based-waste-fee-system-south-korea#:~:text=The%20VBWF%20system%20is%20a,amounts%20of%20garbage%20they%20generate. |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=www.greenpolicyplatform.org}}</ref>

Some companies started producing different colored bottles in 2019. According to the Korea Times, Soju manufacturing companies [[HiteJinro|Hite]] and Muhak introduced non-standard bottles. This created a dispute between companies with claims that sorting out non standard bottles was costly. This has resulted in a new agreement where companies can trade non-standard bottles for the standard green ones with each other.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-30 |title=How do soju bottles with different colors get recycled? |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/12/281_295169.html |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=[[The Korea Times]] |language=en}}</ref>