Garbage Collection

It's taken me quite a long time to figure out the garbage collection system here. I still don't get it completely. It's very strange. I read a little bit online about having to buy special garbage bags, but I didn't know about any of the other details to consider.

First of all, you have to buy district trash bags. You can't just buy Hefty or something, and the bags aren't located on the shelves. You have to go to the customer service counter to get them, or you can ask the cashier to get them for you when you check out. I'm not sure if doing that latter is kind of a jerky thing to do, though. Maybe not, since they're so into customer service here.

The reason you have to buy special bags is because the people aren't taxed for trash collection. It's actually like buying stamps. Trash bags are exorbitantly priced to make sure that the trash collection is paid for, and the trash bag is the symbol that shows you paid your due. There are three sizes: 20 liters, 50 liters, and 100 liters. The 50s are a little bigger than a normal tall kitchen trash bag. They cost about a dollar fifty EACH. Wowie. The 20s come in packages of 20 and that costs about twelve bucks. I don't know how much the 100s cost, since I don't need bags that size, but they probably cost around three dollars. Korea doesn't seem to give many bulk discounts.

Korea enforces recycling and composting. Or, I guess I should say they encourage it. We're supposed to separate recyclables from food waste from other trash. Recyclables, I've heard, don't require the special bags. It seems to be true. I put out grocery bags full of bottles and cans and the disappear. I've also seen piles of bottles outside from people not bothering to even bag them. All food waste has to go in one bag. I'm really glad of this idea in theory, but not in practice. My apartment often smells like rotting food no matter how well I try to tie off my in-use food collection bag. And it takes a really long time to fill up a 20 liter bag with food waste. Like a month for me. I use smaller bags first, then tie them off and put them in the bigger bag, which I put either on my balcony or in my laundry room. It's all kind of a hassle.


There doesn't seem to be "trash day." I think someone comes by every day to pick up trash, except Sunday. I'll put a bag outside, and usually it's gone by the end of the day. They also don't seem to have massive trash trucks like we do, probably since trash collection is so frequent and because there are so many narrow streets. There are a lot of pickup trucks with the wooden frames added on, so I'm thinking those are used instead.


I'm pretty sure most people don't use trashcans in the house, either. Heather doesn't have any, and my apartment didn't have one when I moved in. I can't deal with having a bathroom with no trashcan, so I bought a small one for that room, and another small one for my food bag, to put under the sink. I wanted to buy a normal size one, but they're wicked expensive. I think it's because no one buys them.