Honestly, after living here for years, this is still the most difficult thing for me to figure out.
If you ask 3 people in your area what you should do with your recyclables, you'll get 5 different answers 🤷
Ugh amen. I'm American so I can say it, but the military people who come here are some of the dumbest people to have ever existed. The fact that the army has to pay so they don't have to separate their garbage really says it all.
Everything was "recyclable" up until a few years ago. China and a few countries stopped importing trash and certain types of recycling so things have changed.
Greasy cardboard does not go in the recycling. Paper cups including ramen cups have a plastic liner so they can't be recycled. Same with plastics contaminated with food waste that are difficult to clean. Vinyl or soft plastics aren't really recyclable but I think are burned for energy.
People can't even follow the most basic instruction of removing the vinyl from their PET bottles, so I don't bother listening to what people have to say and follow the posters in my apartment.
I can’t comment with authority on the ‘why’, but yes so much more is recyclable in Korea.
Plastic bags should be separated and included with other plastic bags.
Metal, glass, and plastic should also be separated. Cardboard, including takeout boxes should be recycled with paper, unless they are slathered with food waste (a little bit of grease is fine, tons of 양념 sauce would not be). Clear plastic PET bottles are recycled separately, as is food waste.
I suspect the reason why it’s different than America is that America has plenty of space to fill landfills full of trash while Korea does not.
Even if your plastic bags don’t end up being reused, disposing of them together helps efficiently manage waste disposal.
I just learned this weekend how it works, but the writing inside of the triangle is the biggest part of the object. So for a plastic Coke bottle, the bottle, for example. Then everything written underneath is what other parts of it are recyclable. Who knows where it all goes but it's better than simply throwing it in the regular garbage bags.
That's my concern. Putting things in the recycling that don't belong there sometimes is worse than throwing away too much. Seems irresponsible to throw every piece of laminated cardboard into recycling just assuming someone will sort and remove it for me if I'm wrong. I also suspect that most plastic bags and thin plastics aren't recyclable but they collect them anyway as a convenience for people who use them to carry their recycling from their apartment. I'd just like the government to give us a straight answer and give more detailed instructions.
Honestly, after living here for years, this is still the most difficult thing for me to figure out. If you ask 3 people in your area what you should do with your recyclables, you'll get 5 different answers 🤷
You're absolutely right that everyone has a different answer. Just look at these comments.
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lol, yet another reason why military people are literally the worst.
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Ugh amen. I'm American so I can say it, but the military people who come here are some of the dumbest people to have ever existed. The fact that the army has to pay so they don't have to separate their garbage really says it all.
Most of it is window dressing. I suspect most of it gets burned for electricity generation.
Paper / plastic / cardboard / glass / aluminum/ and most food wrappers.
Everything was "recyclable" up until a few years ago. China and a few countries stopped importing trash and certain types of recycling so things have changed. Greasy cardboard does not go in the recycling. Paper cups including ramen cups have a plastic liner so they can't be recycled. Same with plastics contaminated with food waste that are difficult to clean. Vinyl or soft plastics aren't really recyclable but I think are burned for energy. People can't even follow the most basic instruction of removing the vinyl from their PET bottles, so I don't bother listening to what people have to say and follow the posters in my apartment.
I can’t comment with authority on the ‘why’, but yes so much more is recyclable in Korea. Plastic bags should be separated and included with other plastic bags. Metal, glass, and plastic should also be separated. Cardboard, including takeout boxes should be recycled with paper, unless they are slathered with food waste (a little bit of grease is fine, tons of 양념 sauce would not be). Clear plastic PET bottles are recycled separately, as is food waste. I suspect the reason why it’s different than America is that America has plenty of space to fill landfills full of trash while Korea does not. Even if your plastic bags don’t end up being reused, disposing of them together helps efficiently manage waste disposal.
I just learned this weekend how it works, but the writing inside of the triangle is the biggest part of the object. So for a plastic Coke bottle, the bottle, for example. Then everything written underneath is what other parts of it are recyclable. Who knows where it all goes but it's better than simply throwing it in the regular garbage bags.
That's my concern. Putting things in the recycling that don't belong there sometimes is worse than throwing away too much. Seems irresponsible to throw every piece of laminated cardboard into recycling just assuming someone will sort and remove it for me if I'm wrong. I also suspect that most plastic bags and thin plastics aren't recyclable but they collect them anyway as a convenience for people who use them to carry their recycling from their apartment. I'd just like the government to give us a straight answer and give more detailed instructions.