How To Appropriately Throw Away Trash in Korea

Korea is one of the countries that has the highest recycling rate.

What’s the appropriate way to throw away trash in Korea?

We’ll go over the basics that are helpful to know before you visit Korea.

Types of Wastes

1. General wastes & 2. Food wastes

You need to purchase general and food waste bags in a convenience store or a market near your place because these waste bags are separated by regions.

3. Recycling wastes

Any plastic bags are fine.

Where do you throw away?

Every place has a designated “throwing away” area. People either throw away trash in garbage bins or in waste bags.

1. Recycling Wastes

Recyclable products have recycling symbols that show how to recycle.

Recycling Symbols

2. Food Wastes

Ask these two questions to know whether it’s food waste or not.

1. Can animals eat this?

2. Can it be ground well in a grinder?

These are NOT classified as food wastes

– Leftover bones of chicken, beef, pork, fish etc

– Hard-to-grind skins of an onion, corn, garlic, pineapple, etc. that contain a lot of fibers

– Hard shells of nuts, hard rinds and seeds of fruits

– Shells of seafood, such as shellfish, oysters, etc

– Sauces like red pepper paste that contains a lot of salt

– Tea bags

– Eggshells

– Coffee bean grounds

3. General Wastes

All non-recyclable, non-food waste 🙂