Thursday, October 15, 2020

Food Waste Bags

One of the best things about Korea is how well they deal with waste. Recycling is mandatory and they also require that you put most kinds of food waste in a separate bag, which you can purchase from any grocery store. The waste is collected and then converted into animal feed. 

This is a food waste bag that can hold about one liter of food. They also come in two liter sizes, and restaurants have their own kind too. I keep a bag in the freezer and add food until it's full. Then you take it down to the trash drop-off spot and put it in a specially labeled trashcan. 

My Filipino housekeeper told me a really funny story about these bags recently. There was a newly-arrived Filipino lady to our area who had been told about these bags, but only that they were 'food bags'. So this lady packed her lunch into one of them. This wouldn't normally be a problem, but on this particular day she ate her lunch while on the public bus (a faux pas in Korea, but she didn't know). She pulled out her bag and started to eat. The Koreans on the bus were horrified! They immediately started handing her money and any food they had with them. The Filipino lady was so confused, she already had a nice lunch. With the language barrier no one could explain themselves, but everyone involved had a good story to tell when they got home!

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