From last month, the franchise also began sending out automatic electronic receipts to all 4 million Rewards members who downloaded the Starbucks app. The cafe chain was able to save approximately 9 million paper receipts last month through this measure. To help its stores carry out these eco-friendly activities, the company will offer comprehensive educational resources and support to Starbucks storeowners to teach them how to properly recycle and guide customers toward sustainable behavior. “In consideration of future generations,” said Lee Seok-gu, CEO of Starbucks Coffee Korea, “eco-friendly management should no longer be optional, but obligatory.” Starbucks Korea is one of the 21 major cafe and fast food franchises that signed a voluntary agreement with the Ministry of Environment in May to reduce plastic consumption and increase the recycling rates of its plastic waste. From Monday through July 25, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will work with local governing authorities and activist groups to carry out on-site inspections on the use of disposable cups inside cafes and fast food stores. If stores are found to be ignoring the terms of the agreement they may be subject to a fine. Prior to Starbucks Korea’s announcement on Monday, the franchise’s U.S. headquarters announced that it plans to eliminate plastic straws by 2020 across all 28,000 of its stores worldwide citing environmental concerns. The move came after the City of Seattle, the birthplace of the coffee giant, placed a ban on the use of plastic straws and utensils in food service businesses from July.