Waste disposal

June 28, 2016 | College

By Bara Sarraj

Two garbage workers inspect, scan and collect food waste containers in Seoul’s Sungpa District. Each container has a barcode unique to every household. Seoul’s residents pay a monthly collection fee based on the amount of food waste discarded. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.

Wasted tomatoes. Image by Karim Chrobog. Washington, D.C., 2014.

Every household is legally required to separate food from other waste and discard leftovers into baskets such as these ones. Noncompliance carries financial penalties. Thanks to new legislation, food waste has been reduced by 25 percent since 2012. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.

Florida Market's back alleys. Image by Karim Chrobog. Washington, D.C., 2014.

There are currently three ways to discard food waste in Seoul: pre-paid plastic garbage bags, small waste containers and the new Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID). Introduced in 2012, the RFID is a weight-based disposal system that charges residents a fee based on the weight of their food waste. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.

Containers of wasted food in Florida Market. Image by Karim Chrobog. Washington, D.C., 2014.

Even though Koreans are required to separate food from other garbage, byproducts sometimes do mix with food waste. In this case, aluminum has been carefully separated from food, and is then pressed and recycled. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.

Cucumbers destined for the garbage. Image by Karim Chrobog. Washington, D.C., 2014.

Over 90 percent of South Korea’s food waste is recycled into biofuel, animal feed or fertilizer. Visiting a recycling facility in the Sungpa District, we wanted to take a first hand look at how the recycling process works. Each of these one-ton bags is derived entirely from the district’s food waste. The Government of Seoul argues that making food waste profitable is the only way to handle its massive food waste problem. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.

Garbage, garbage and more garbage. With nearly 25 million people and limited land space, Seoul is one of the world’s most densely populated cities—twice as much as New York City. This landfill is less than 45 minutes from downtown Seoul. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.

Landfill workers look onto mountains of garbage. About 360 tons of waste are collected at this landfill every day. The landfill operator has managed to turn garbage into a profitable business by harvesting methane from waste. It is then turned into electricity and sold to local power plants. The landfill is completely food waste free. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.

The people of Seoul love to eat. There are more eateries and restaurants in Seoul per square mile than virtually any other city in the world. Restaurants line up the street in Seoul’s Gangnam District. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.

South Koreans flock to food markets for lunch. Dozens of small eateries mostly consisting of a bench and open fire cooking stove make up the Gwangjang Market, one of Seoul’s oldest and most traditional food markets. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.

A food vendor sells local fare at one of the dozens of eateries inside the Gwangjang Market. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.

As early as the mid-1960s, South Korea’s GDP was similar to that of the poorer countries of Africa. Today, South Korea has the world’s 12th largest economy. As South Koreans have enjoyed rising income levels, food consumption has become an opulent affair. Seoul’s growing middle and upper class regularly attend weekend champagne buffets at the city’s four and five stars hotels. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.

About 23 percent of South Koreans are Buddhist. We attend a Buddhist eating ceremony to understand whether religion has played a role in getting a major part of the population to participate in the country’s national effort to reduce food waste. According to Buddhist teaching, each last grain must be consumed, and even the water used to clean the eating bowls may not be wasted. Image by Karim Chrobog. South Korea, 2014.