Saturday, October 07, 2006

Garbage day

Today is Saturday.
Tomorrow is Sunday.
Sunday is Garbage day.
The garbage works a little different here in Gimpo, Korea than it does back home in Canada. First off, we recycle everything. Everything! Tin, plastic, glass, paper, organics. Everything has to be rinsed out and separated. The security guard (who performs a variety of functions, few of which involve keeping the apartment secure since there is no crime in S. Korea...) helps/orders you to sort properly. Even little things like the foil seal on the mouth of a new container can be recycled. Should you so choose you my simply throw something away, but you have to pay an exorbitant amount of money for the special plastic bags that said garbage will go in.
Organic waste is collected in a sealed bucket we keep in our laundry room/weird back hallway that goes nowhere. This can be very disgusting as it often includes meats and fruits. We also dump bits and chunks from the food trap (a small filter in the kitchen sink drain) in the bucket. Then I, because neither Joi nor Amber will touch the stuff, dump the waste into here where it stews and waxes poetic.

Rewind to last Sunday when Amber, Joi, and I cleaned out a good portion of the apartment. Matt had just left us and left piles and piles of unwanted shit behind, as is the trend around here. We paid something close to 12000 Won to dispose of the larger objects and brought out tons of recycling. I think the security guard must have figured that these crazy waygooks just buy things to throw them away again.

So there you have it. Clearly more efficient and better for our planet, but not nearly as convienent as our "throw things out without thinking about it or considering the consequences system" that we employ at home.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think that is so awesome! People think it is too hard to live an environmentally-conscious life. Yet, if they want the earth their grandchildren know to be similar to this one we live on now, they have no choice but to make the change. And it is not that hard! Amber, does it take that much more time and energy to recycle and compost than to just throw everything in a trash can? Not if you have all the bins together under the sink the way I do. Amber, I charge you to bring your new-found green-self back to Edmonton. Together we will start a green revolution amongst our peers!