Korean Job Discussion Forums

[davecx82]

how does the garbage system work here? today i just put all forms of garbage (bottles, plastic, cardboard, etc.) in one of those green bags you purchase from your local store.

thanks.

[Carla]

[Kikomom]

Not living there, I have no idea how that garbage system works. But if you have a cat, I do remember reading here that cat litter must be bagged first then placed in whichever special waste bag it goes into. If you don't bag it separately first, you'll end up catching a whole lotta grief and probably won't know why because they'll be yelling at you in Korean.

[Chambertin]

Good question.
It depends on the province (도) then city (시), however most places have a similar system. Garbage is picked up daily, yet you have two options pay for the bags that they sell and toss everything into them. Or sort your own garbage every day as you toss it into the proper container.

The mindset that I get here is good. You pay for someone to sort out your trash or you do it yourself. In the end it pays for a family to get the bags, if you are single then its a simple process to sort and take out on your way to work. Then again lazy is fun.

Hope this helps.

[UknowsI]

You don't have to sort it if you throw it in the green bags you pay for? That would be great. I always have bad conscience when I throw some paper or plastic in the green bag, but sometimes it feels a bit inevitable.

I've actually asked my Korean friends here how we are supposed to do it, but they don't know either... and I've tried to watch how the others do it, but it doesn't seem very consistent. If I could throw everything in green bags it would have made my life at least slightly easier

[hugekebab]

In our estate we have to separate cooked from raw food, plastics, cardboard and miscellaneous waste. If I do it incorrectly the rubbish nazis shout at me. Fair one though, at least they are making some attempt to recycle.

[Chambertin]

Rubbish Nazis are everywhere because they have little else to do with their lives than cause misery for others. If you cant overcome then spread, kinda like disease these people are. Also they are all too often wrong. As I could easily be as I don�t live in your house.

Although I said it does depend on the locality, if you live in an apartment in a non rural area they should sell the (insert color here) mine are blue) bags where you just throw all your trash in. There may be other colors but all the places I saw have had bins for non perishable. Plastic, Glass, Paper / Cardboard, and other. You walk down and sort or toss everything into the colored bag.

They sell other colors for the private homes as they don�t have the massive bins that an apartment complex has and the trash guy needs to know which one to pickup. Often the ones which are for specific purposes aren�t sold in the major stores, but the local shops near housing developments.
Even if you have all of them, I did at the local mart in Japan, just buy the expensive color and dump everything. Or use your foreigner power to overcome the Nazis like WWII and dump everything in a Lotte mart bag.

That�s my story, hope it helps. Chances are most people are clueless as they don�t live in a house.

[EDIT]:
I do want to say this though, Plastic, Paper, Metal, Glass should be standard sorting. This will get a legit bashing by anyone who walks by if done wrong.
The raw, burnable, cooked, other plastics, newspaper vs. packing paper is the Nazi category and too much for me.

Personally the Japanese system can drive you nutty as each kind of trash has a day a bag and a Nazi waiting and ready for you.

Interesting fact if they are really serious about the type of the food waste it usually means they are involved in a water reclamation project as cooked vs. raw have different buoyancy and obviously density ratios.

[saw6436]

^^Bah! Korea dumps 800,000 tons of food waste (2008 report) annually into the Sea of Japan. I'm all for intelligent recycling but the Korean system really bites a**.

[thoreau]

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[blue.sky]

[You]

I did it wrong one day when I first got here and felt terrible. The guard was waiting for me when I got home and asked if the bag was mine. Doh, for putting the paper and plastic together, that should have been so obvious for me. I did get the plastic bottles, cans, rubbish and food waste right though.

I said sorry like a million times while he was showing me the system and I felt bad for like 3 days after. Hopefully that's enough penance to clear my trash law breaking conscious.

[Chambertin]

[DrugstoreCowgirl]

I really hate the trash system, its so annoying having to keep old food around because you can't throw it into the trash. And my apartment building doesn't have a communal trash can, so I have to take my food trash to school with me. It's disgusting.

[T-dot]

[TheUrbanMyth]