Where Bloggers Live: Recycling in South Korea is Next Level!
Welcome to this month’s edition of Where Bloggers Live. It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers! Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes, interests, and lives? Every month a group of seven bloggers share their work-spaces, homes, towns, and thoughts, with posts based on specific prompts. It’s been so interesting over the years to see the different ways each of us interpret the topics.
This month’s topic is how we can try to live environmentally responsibly.
In the past I’ve spoken a bit about sustainability as it pertains to fashion and shopping. I talked about the 30-Wear Campaign here and How to Build a Responsible Wardrobe here. And I have to say, I’m currently living the 30-Wear Campaign as like the 3-Year Campaign, ha ha, because I have barely bought clothes (or anything, really) over the past three years…other than like, replacing bras and underwear that’s worn out, or basic tees as they wear through or get too badly stained or dingey to wear out in the world. And sneakers! My beloved Converse Shoreline Slip-ons! The first pair I had, the black ones, lasted three years. I bought a new pair right before coming here…and because I’ve put so many miles on them in one year, they’re already worn through at the back and the sole and will need to be replaced.
But I digress. Other than to make the point that none of us really *need* new clothes every season or every year.
Anyway…today I wanted to share a little bit about recycling in South Korea cuz it is Next Level! They are Very Serious about trash separation, collection, and recycling. Big Brother may not be watching, but the neighborhood ahjumma (middle-aged woman, often very concerned about the actions of others – of course, I’m speaking tongue-in-cheek, this is more how they’re portrayed on k-dramas, but….) is! And if you’re caught breaking the rules, you can be fined…or worse, banned from garbage collection in the future!
To put your trash out for collection, you have to purchase special plastic bags from the market or convenience store. They’re not a lot, but it’s a little inconvenient to always have to get them. Note: *I* do not need them personally, because I live in a building where we (the tenants) separate our trash in-building, and then the “house ladies,” separate it better (ha ha) and then they dispose of it in the proper containers.
I really feel for them when I see them sorting through all our trash to make sure everything is where it’s supposed to be…cuz often it’s not. In between each floor there are five plastic trash cans for glass/metal, paper, plastic, vinyl (like chip bags, sort of like plastic but more substantial) and waste (general trash, food waste, basically anything that doesn’t fit into the other categories). Things need to be rinsed/washed before throwing them out. If there’s food inside a metal/plastic container, it can’t be recycled and the Bad Recycler can be fined. Materials can’t be combined. Paper labels are supposed to be removed from plastic or metal containers. A lot of packaging is paper + plastic – they need to be separated. Or you can be fined.
Are you seeing a theme here?
I just took out waste and plastic yesterday so this is less than usual…but that’s plastics in the big clear bag on the right, paper in the big light grey bag on the left, metal/glass in the small bag in front of paper, then on the floor in the corner is like cardboardy paper…then a pile of clothes to go to the donation bin, and some broken down cardboard boxes to recycle. I hate that my entryway is always the trashway but…there’s nowhere else to put it!
So in my small room…I have 3-5 plastic (recycled from incoming packages) bags hanging on the back of the door so I can separate plastic, paper, metal/glass, vinyl…and food waste, which I usually try to get out to the building trash cans asap so I don’t get fruit flies (I did have a little fruit fly adventure this summer!). The other bags I just take out when they’re full.
It would look much nicer to have proper bins for each category but I don’t have the room for that. And I make a lot of trash 🙁 cuz I can’t buy in bulk due to limited storage (especially fridge) space.
In the US, we were supposed to recycle, but…I never saw anything like this.
On a side note, Korea really does not have trash cans on the street. I mean, there are, but they are few and far between. So there’s no trash can overflow or mounds of trash in the general vicinity of a trash can like there are, well, in NY, at least. That’s nice, as it keeps the streets cleaner, but…it makes it very hard when you’re out and want to grab a snack or drink on the go. Because you’re probably going to have to carry that trash home with you.
On an even more side note, just sort of related to trash…because so many buildings in Korea are old…the plumbing is also old…and weak…and most public bathrooms have a sign inside the stall telling you to not throw your toilet paper in the toilet, but to put it in the bin (and usually each stall has a small trash bin inside). That was a big adjustment for me. Americans want their soiled tissues to magically disappear…but here they’re left to linger. Yeah. That was an adjustment.
Rein it in, Bettye! Oh, so, in order to make myself feel a little better about creating so much trash here (#singleusepackaging), I remind myself that I no longer drive a car, and that’s a big “weight” off the country’s resources…and a benefit to the environment.
There. Now I feel a little better, ha ha.
I do have to hand it to Korea, the people really follow the rules and take separation and recycling seriously. I think it’s just part of the collective mindset here: let’s all do our part to make things better for everyone. Not a bad motto 🙂
Visit my friends’ blogs as well, to see if they have any good advice for you on living more sustainably!
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie at Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After
Sally at Within a World of My Own
Lisa Elliott
When we’ve traveled, we’ve encountered bathrooms with “do not flush paper” in other countries. Do you finally get used to the smell?
bettyewp
That’s what’s so interesting, I haven’t noticed any smell! But I do see cleaning ladies in the restrooms OFTEN, and rarely see a full bin so I think the constant cleaning helps.
jodie filogomo
Wow, that is serious. But it makes sense.
I was wondering the same thing as Lisa with the flushing of tpaper….
XOOX
Jodie
bettyewp
Sometimes I forget and accidentally flush (OOPS – but that is what 63 years of practicing one habit will do). But like I said to Lisa, they cleane the public restrooms really frequently and I’ve yet to notice a smell.
A flushing side note…they also ask that you close the lid before flushing so no “splash” escapes. Maybe other people knew this, but I was bever aware of the flush being so powerful that it literally sprayed the walls and floors.
They ALSO request that you not put your feet on the seat and squat over the bowl, but that’s cultural I guess. A lot of older public restrooms have both old school (floor/squatting) toilets and modern (raised/sitting) toilet options.
I could (and guess, should) do a whole post just on Korean bathrooms, both public and private, cuz there are a lot of differences from western bathrooms.
Leslie Susan Clingan
That is heavy duty recycling. Wow!! And the poor house ladies who have to go through the trash of their neighbors/residents and re-sort it!! Hope they get some kind of compensation for that responsibility. Yikes. Tearing the paper labels off the plastic containers and cans? Hardcore. Is recycling a big industry that provides lots of jobs and opportunities in South Korea? Do you see much trash along the streets with so few public trash cans available? Of course, here in the U.S. we could have trash cans every 2 feet and someone/many someones would feel the need to throw their water bottle on the ground in between the cans.
In Mexico, people throw used toilet paper in trash cans beside the toilets, too. And when those folks come to the U.S. where there is often no trash can beside the toilet, they opt for throwing the soiled toilet paper on the floor. Super disgusting.
I think maybe we need you to write a whole post devoted to Korean bathrooms and etiquette.
Iris
Well, it looks like we could all take a page out of South Korea’s book on recycling. Way too much ‘stuff’ just thrown away here.
Iris
em d
Whoa! This is some serious recycling. I don’t know if I envy it or am terrified of having to be that attentive to it. Impressive, none the less! Our local collection has gotten stricter, we were limited to the number of cans and could only get rid of bulk items once per month…so we switched collection companies…BUT it has still made me take a harder look at how and what we toss.
I think the bathroom post is a go! I’d definitely read that. I went on a high school trip to france back in the day and three of us just stared at the bidet and said “Whaaaaa?” And, as jerky high schoolers we asked the bellhop/attendant and he was completely flustered and kept saying “pour la femme! pour la femme!” And then one of the roommates, who clearly didn’t understand physics, used it improperly and put paper in it as well. And let me tell you the OTHER two of us quickly became middle-aged women and made her clean it out.
I will say, Bettye, I really liked this prompt…definitely found some room for improvement in my practices!