I have been meaning to write this blog for a few months now. I was suppossed to write it last week as part of a national environmental blog day, but I forgot, so I am writing it now. Recycling is required by law in Korea. You have to separate all your trash into six separate bags. Plastics, Glass, Metal, Paper, non-food trash and food trash. The plastics, glass, metal and paper can go into any plastic bags you get from the store, the non-food trash has to go into bags you buy that are green or white depending on the size. The food trash has to go into bags that you buy that are yellow, all food you throw away has to go into these bags which are then composted. The rest of the recyclables are recycled, very little trash is actually thrown away in this system, I throw away less that than a 10liter bag a week of trash, I usually throw out my green non-food trash bag every week so it wont get stinky and its usually only 2/3 full. It is amazing to see how much of my trash gets recycled, I would say around 85% of my trash is recycled or composted with this system and its very easy, it takes me no time and I keep all the bags under my sink. I have always tried to recycle in the US, but they are very strict about what they will take. Here you can recycle any plastic, paper, glass or metal, they take it all. The bags that you buy for your trash and food waste are expensive and the money is used to pay for the landfills and collecting costs. The system is years ahead of what we have in Ohio.
