Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Been Here Years]

I will give you the definitive answer!!!!!

There is no punishment for littering. Go to Singapore and you will see no litter on the streets or anywhere else. Why? Because the punishment is immediate and highly costly to the litterer.

You will not see cars, buses or trucks blowing exhaust gases onto the street. Why? Because there are regular compulsory checks of all vehicles to ensure there are NO unwanted emissions.

Here in Korea there are numerous laws prohibiting littering.
There is a fine for dropping cigarette butts. About 8 years ago there was a blitz and police were everywhere stopping people, making them pick up the butts and then fining them. But it was only a blitz. When it finished so did the stopping of people dropping butts.

There was a huge effort made to clean up exhaust emissions. That has had ongoing results and believe me you don't see the bus and trucks blowing black smoke that they used to.

They tried to stop the rubbish being put out daily by making the various areas have specific dates for rubbish collection. Problem is that householders don't have garbage cans as the west does. Plastic bags are just put on the street and the stray cats and dogs tear the bags and spill the contents which just remain. It used to be that the street cleaners swept the streets daily and collected the rubbish daily. Money prohibited this continuing.

It all comes down to punishment. In any country people do not do things because it is the right thing to do. They do things because the punishment for not doing it is more uncomfortable than doing the right thing in the first place.

Until Korea starts to enforce the laws already in existence the road conditions, pollution, rubbish and food and water problems will continue.

Just my 10 won's worth.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

You've got to love the reasoning though. Too many people are putting too much rubbish in the rubbish bins, let's get rid of the rubbish bins!

PS Rubbish bins can be designed with a small opening, so as to limit the size of trash they are used for, thus stopping people from putting house hold waste in public bins. Very simple, very easy.

[diver]

Korea is dirty because not enough Koreans care enough to do anything to solve the problem. The end. If they wanted to, they could. But they don't want to.

Population density? Yes, the beach was so crowded I couldn't get to a garbage can.

Indutrial development? Yes, I was busy building a factory, so I couldn't put my trash in the garbage.

Cleanliness is a luxury of rich countries? Korea is a rich county! They buy all kinds of stuff. I know this because I see the wrappers and packaging from all the stuff they buy all over the streets.

Whoops! My father just called. Apparently, he spotted some trash in Toronto. So, that means it is okay to litter here. (I learned that on Dave's ESL Cafe).

[beast]

they don't know any better.

[posco's trumpet]

[Alyallen]

[diver]

[the saint]

Trash/litter/garbage/whatever is produced by individuals.

The other day, I watched a highschool girl come out of a shop with some candy. She unwrapped it and threw the wrapper on the floor. Making quite a show of it, I picked it up and pocketed it. My Korean limits me to body language very often but this was enough. She looked ashamed and her friends were quite surprised.

I don't litter because I don't want to live in a society where there is litter everywhere. I also shop wisely and dispose of the garbage I do produce in as "green" a way as possible.

I make these choices. If that high school girl had wanted to, she could have made that choice.

But she didn't.

Why not?

[dogbert]

About any day of the week you can see someone "advertising" by literally dropping hundreds of A4 size flyers on the sidewalk.

[Demophobe]

Ghosts....

[Universalis]

Visiting that large temple near Daegue (forgot its name), I saw some garbage sitting in the grass about 6 feet from a garbage bin. Being the concerned global cistizen that I am, I picked it up and disposed of it properly. For my efforts, a group of Koreans nearby started laughing.

A friend of mine, an American woman living here in Korea with her husband and three kids, told me about the time she bought some candy for her kids and their Korean friends, who were all playing in the playground. Her kids disposed of the wrappers properly, while the Korean kids just threw the garbage on the ground.

They just don't give a shit. Which, in some ways, is fine... if they want to live in a pigsty that's their perogative. The problem, as one Kiwi friend made clear to me, is that when they travel or live overseas, they take their habits with them.

Brian

[Ody]

[Real Reality]

Universalis wrote,
"I picked it up and disposed of it properly. For my efforts, a group of Koreans nearby started laughing."

You did the right thing.

Korea: The Hub of Asia

[diver]

Maybe they mean "The trash collection hub of Asia'?

[Gwangjuboy]