Gwangju Metropolitan City's five autonomous districts: “Please separate food waste during kimchi-making season and dispose of it in designated bags”

【Financial News, Jeonnam-Gwangju = Hwang Tae-jong, Reporter】“Please separate food waste generated during kimchi-making season and dispose of it in designated bags.”
The five autonomous districts of Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City (Gwangju Metropolitan City) will introduce dedicated bags for food waste during kimchi-making season and operate them temporarily for two months, from November through December.
The measure aims to ease the difficulty of disposing of bulky food waste, such as cabbage leaves and radish greens, generated in large quantities during kimchi-making, and to address the problem of it being collected and processed mixed with regular household waste.
Jeong Mi-gyeong, head of Gwangju Metropolitan City's Resource Circulation Division, said, “We expect the introduction of dedicated bags for kimchi-making season to make it more convenient for residents to dispose of kimchi-making byproducts and to help ensure more efficient collection and processing.”
Use of the dedicated bags for kimchi-making season is not mandatory, and existing disposal methods using RFID volume-based charging machines and dedicated food-waste collection containers will remain unchanged. Currently, in Gwangju's five autonomous districts, residents of detached houses place food waste in dedicated collection containers, attach a payment sticker, and set it out for collection. In apartment complexes, an RFID-based volume-based fee system for food waste, which mainly charges according to the amount disposed of, is in operation.
The dedicated bags for kimchi-making season will be available in one size only, 20 liters, and will sell for 1,400 won each. Each district will use a different color from its regular volume-based waste bags so they can be easily distinguished during collection.
Jeong Mi-gyeong, head of Gwangju Metropolitan City's Resource Circulation Division, said, “Because these dedicated bags are intended for disposing of kimchi-making byproducts that qualify as food waste, such as cabbage leaves and radish greens, care should be taken not to mix in contaminants such as plastic film or other plastics, or regular household waste.” The official added, “I ask residents to check the period during which the dedicated bags can be used and the disposal instructions, and to actively participate in sorting and disposing of waste properly.”
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