Trash in Korea

Throwing away trash back in Georgia is an easy job. All you have to do is put all the trash in one of those over sized black or white trash bags, take it out to your driveway, and dump it in those giant plastic bins (separating cans, plastic, and glass, of course). 

One of the most confusing and hardest things to grasp for me in Korea was throwing away trash. Everything seems pretty organized in the picture above, as all the different types of trash are clearly labeled and separated.

What I didn't know was that each city in Korea has a designated trash bag that you have to buy separately. On top of that, you have to be careful what you put into those bags. Because Korea does not have a food disposal in the sink, the scraps of food have to be put away in another designated food bag. As much as I appreciate the effort of separating the recyclables in Korea, it can become quite costly. The plastic bags in my city are being sold as high as 500WON per bag!

My housemate and I tried to sneak our trash in some random plastic bags and got yelled at by the trash man. He was so furious and was yelling at us pointing his finger in every way possible! Although we have learned our lesson since and are trying very hard to follow the rules out here, it makes me wonder why the man got so angry at us for throwing away our trash in the right place when there is trash overflowing and everywhere in the streets.

One thing I do like about any residential trash area in Korea are the donation boxes. Instead of having to go to a local goodwill with boxes full of old clothing, I can just go to the basement floor of my apartment and dump everything in these green boxes. I believe the items in these boxes are collected weekly and do go to a local charity.