When I was a kid, garbage day meant taking the trash cans to the curb on Thursday. As a teenager, it was any day dad loaded the garbage in the truck and took it to the dump because there wasn’t a garbage company in town that wanted to drive up the hill to our subdivision.
Now, garbage day is any day my roommates or I bother to take the trash to the communal garbage bin.
In Korea, garbage day was much more involved and overall more effective. On Monday, my roommate and I would bring down our three separate pails to the designated garbage day spot in the parking lot. One pail we sorted into the different recycling bins depending on the product. The second pail was dumped in the food waste bin. The third pail carried everything else that didn’t fit into these other categories and went into the garbage bin (note - this was only when I lived in large apartment complexes as the system was different for smaller ones). It was a method of garbage day I had never even considered and I immediately liked it better than any American system I’ve dealt with.
Why did I like the Korean system better? For one, since I was the person who had to sort the garbage, I was more conscientious of what I used, how much I threw away, and what products can actually be recycled or not. It also gave me the opportunity to recycle and save food scraps, which hasn’t readily been available in my home country.
But attitudes here are changing. More and more people want to be eco-friendly and garbage plays a large part in that. If you find you have a significant group of renters who are environmentally conscientious, consider changing up how you do garbage day. It could be like the Korean system, or it can be your own take that will help give your renters and you the opportunity to help protect our planet.
