Recycling is a big deal in Korea.  Koreans recycle everything and stores have to charge you for plastic shopping bags.  In 2002, the rate of recycling exceeded the rate of landfilling, that’s amazing considering the population density here.  Every Saturday morning from 8 to 10 AM all the tenants in Dong Bu apartments gather in the parking lot and sort their recyclables.  I had to ask Ally what can and can’t be recycled and Joe and I got some bins for our back porch to store all our recyclable goods until Saturday mornings although we’re not usually up by 10 AM.  We have to purchase special bags from the Korean grocery store for garbage and food waste and the rest has to be sorted and recycled.  By the time we sort everything that can be recycled all we are left with is food waste and tissues.  The recycling program here is great and I commend Koreans for their efforts to help not only their landfills but the earth in general because it really is much more effort than just bagging everything up and dumping it in the trash.

A pic from our front balcony last Saturday morning.  The big pile is boxes and cardboard, and then there are various bags of plastics, glass, etc.  There are even bins where you separate the plastics even more (i.e. yogurt plastic, plastic bags,  water bottles, etc.)

A closeup of some sorted bags waiting to be picked up by the recycling people.  Now I just need a compost bin!