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[그렉의 한국 엿보기] Keep it separated
Recently I moved into a new apartment so unpacking has produced a lot of trash. In order to make sure I disposed of it properly I took a short trip on the elevator down to the basement where the recycling is kept. Different colored bins and baskets and dumpsters stretched from one side of the parking garage to the other. There were small bags for yogurt cups, large plastic bins for colored glass bottles, even a large plastic bag for smaller plastic bags. It was a buffet in reverse; all the waste and leftovers must be separated and returned to their origin. Quickly I sorted my refuse and made a schedule in my head in order of difficulty and quantity: regular garbage first, rotting food scraps last.
Korea takes recycling farther than I had expected. Recycling back in America was an option, and a recent one at that. I remember when my parents received, like Christmas presents, their first two government-issue recycling bins: the green one for glass, the red one for plastic. Along with bundled papers they could be placed at the curb with the regular garbage cans at certain times of the week and taken away by the special flatbed truck. In restaurants and coffee shops like Starbucks, all refuse went to the same home: the landfill. Certain cities and companies, I'm sure, have stronger or weaker requirements for sorting out reusable material but in general it's voluntary and unregulated.
 [그렉의 한국 엿보기] Keep it separated 청취
In Korea, reminders of recycling are everywhere. When I first arrived, the system seemed overwhelming. I had no idea which special bags were for which trash nor where I could buy them. The recycling schedule seemed more complicated that the Seoul subway and less convenient. Now I needed to adapt to scraping food from my lunch tray into a special, pungent, bucket. It seemed foreign to use a plastic cup in McDonald's or pay extra for bags at Lotte Mart and take out paper cups from Starbucks. Rarely did I remember to return the cup for the refund. In certain states in America, I remembered, it's also possible to take back aluminum cans and class bottles and receive up to five cents back, but people almost never do. I also learned that Korean companies can face very stiff fines if they don't meet certain recycling quotas. In fact, for failing to charge for plastic shopping bags, department stores can expect fines of up to three million won.
Nowadays I try to take preventative action towards recycling. Rather than waiting until all the trash has accumulated before sifting through and divided it by type I organize my recycling from home, separating glass from plastic from paper. My apartment building's parking lot recycling center doesn't seem so daunting anymore. When I'm out I try to look for the appropriate bin or container to dump my soda or throw away my straw, though one difficulty I still have is in locating nearby public trashcans, along the streets or in the subway stations. The goal of the programs around the world is the same: to keep the environment safe and reuse available resources. I want to make my contribution, and in some cases, get my money back.코렘어학원 제공
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 / 입력시간: 2008. 05.13. 13:34
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