Good riddance to bad rubbish

Good riddance to bad rubbish

There are several things you are unlikely to see on the streets of Seoul. For example, stray dogs, beggars and policemen _ unless there is a situation like a protest, said the tour guide as we took a bus tour of the South Korean capital.

Another thing which is hard to find is a garbage bin.

While I was strolling around Myeong Dong, one of the main shopping districts, I could not find a bin to dispose of a paper cup after eating a scoop of ice cream. Another media friend on the trip had to keep the paper cone in her bag after finishing a foot-long ice cream cone. Seoul has a dearth of public garbage bins, unlike Bangkok where they can be found on almost every corner.

"Everyone must be responsible for all the garbage they produce," said Korea-Thailand Communication Centre Managing Director Hong Ji-hee. Managing waste is costly and those who produce it have to pay.

"If you drop rubbish or spit on the street, you can be fined up to 3,000 baht," she said, adding that if someone took a picture of you dropping litter in public and took it to the police, you could also be fined.

Although people are expected to follow the rules, I sometimes saw people spitting on sidewalks. I also saw cigarette butts as well as discarded plastic bags and cups in small alleys, public parks and some tourist spots.

Ms Hong said the local government is serious about keeping the city clean. CCTV cameras are everywhere, recording every movement on the streets. If you do something wrong, policemen will send a fine to your home right away, she said.

All households must pay for garbage bags in each district. Every family must also sort out trash and put different types of rubbish into the right type of bag; leftovers go into yellow bags, for instance. The government has strict rules for recycling waste, said Ms Hong.

"If you fail to comply and do not sort your waste, the garbage men will not collect your trash," she said. Imagine if the trash is left uncollected and it is not only from your house but the whole apartment block, then it would be most unpleasant.

With regard to leftovers, not every type of food waste can be put in the same bag. Only leftovers that animals can eat can be placed in the yellow bag for food waste. Hard-shelled nuts, clams, bones, feathers, seeds and teabags must be put in a different bag.

"It is because food waste is fed to pigs," she said, adding that in order to ensure that the pigs do not get hurt by toothpicks accidentally mixed with leftovers, people now use corn toothpicks.

"Our toothpicks are edible," she said.

Apart from separating biodegradable trash, everyone must also separate paper from plastic bottles, glass and other unwanted items like clothes or hazardous waste.

For example, in a coffee shop, when I finished my drink, I had to return the tray and throw away my trash. In the trash corner there was a container for leftover liquids including ice cubes and separate bins for paper and plastic waste. Funnily enough, most coffee shops use take-away cups, a practice which adds to the amount of garbage to be managed.

When I stayed at a small hotel in Incheon, I had to sort out my own food waste after finishing my buffet breakfast. The discarded food went into one container while the spoon, chopsticks and dish were dealt with separately.

This reminds me of when I am at home. Like many of us, I also sort out my garbage. My husband and I also decompose our food waste. We dig many holes in our garden, one after another when they are filled up and the decomposing matter helps improve the soil quality. Our amount of trash has been dramatically reduced from one small bag a day to one a week. Plastic, paper and bottles are separated for garbage collectors.

I was most surprised to find that someone who lives in a condominium freezes their food waste in a plastic bag then drives upcountry every weekend to give the decomposed garbage to farmers.

Perhaps we can start with little things like managing our own garbage. I remember the recycling policy that was announced a long time ago, yet the total amount of garbage city people produce keeps on increasing. I think our garbage is our own responsibility, not the problem of others.


Karnjana Karnjanatawe is a travel writer for Life section of the Bangkok Post.

Karnjana Karnjanatawe

Travel writer

Karnjana Karnjanatawe is a travel writer for Life section.

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