Is it time to trash Korea's pay-as-you-throw waste system?

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Is it time to trash Korea's pay-as-you-throw waste system?

Published: 22 Apr. 2026, 07:00 Updated: 23 Apr. 2026, 10:34

CHO JUNG-WOO
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A customer puts groceries into a garbage bag, which is offered for bagging to be repurposed for trash disposal later, at a discount store in downtown Seoul on March 30. [NEWS1]

Garbage bag shortages due to naphtha supply disruptions triggered by the Middle East conflict are raising questions about whether it is time to scrap Korea’s long-established, cumbersome volume-based garbage bag system.

A Seoul resident last month filed a complaint through the 120 Dasan Call Center suggesting that the Volume-Based Waste Fee (VBWF) system, officially introduced in 1995, be abolished. The system requires people to dispose of household waste in paid, designated bags. The resident instead proposed allowing the use of regular plastic bags for convenience.

In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said dismantling the system would be difficult. Officials emphasized that a recent ban on the direct landfilling of household waste in the greater Seoul area, including Incheon and Gyeonggi, has made systematic waste management more important than ever. The policy is intended to reduce pollution and reliance on landfills.

Korea is widely regarded as the first country to adopt a nationwide pay-as-you-throw system. The policy was designed to curb waste by tying disposal costs to volume.

Yet total household waste has continued to rise, increasing from 48,728 tons per day in 2013 to 61,404 tons in 2023, according to government figures.

While some critics say the VBWF system no longer provides a strong incentive to reduce waste, others argue that it has helped Korea build one of the world’s more rigorous recycling systems.

Rethinking the system

Park Seok-soon, an emeritus professor of environmental engineering at Ewha Womans University and former head of the National Institute of Environmental Research, argues that the system should be scrapped as it contributes to plastic waste by relying on disposable bags.

Staffers sort recyclable waste at a recycling sorting facility in Dobong District, western Seoul, on Jan. 26.[NEWS1]

“People do not necessarily reduce waste to avoid paying for the bags,” Prof. Park said. “Instead, the system ends up producing more plastic bags.”

Around 1.8 billion VBWF, or pay-as-you-throw, bags are produced in Korea each year.

Prof. Park proposed outsourcing waste collection to specialized companies. Under his model, households would use reusable containers or bags that would be collected and managed by private small- and mid-sized firms.

“The companies would be paid according to the number of households and residents in the areas they serve,” Prof. Park said.

“That would allow companies to sort recyclable materials more efficiently, as many are currently discarded in paid garbage bags, while also creating jobs,” he said.

Municipal solid waste generated per capita [YUN YOUNG]

According to the Seoul city government, about 55 percent of vinyl disposed of in the city is still discarded in paid, general waste bags, leading to incineration or landfilling despite its recyclability. To address this, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment has proposed expanding pretreatment facilities nationwide to reduce waste sent to incinerators and increase the recycling rate. These facilities would open waste bags and mechanically sort recyclable materials such as plastic film, which could then be processed through pyrolysis, a method that breaks plastic down into reusable resources.

Before waste disposal became fee-based

Until 1980, household waste was discarded in large communal bins near homes, where general, food and recyclable waste were mixed together. Between 1980 and 1995, those bins were removed and garbage was placed in large black plastic bags, though sorting remained limited.

That changed in 1995 with the introduction of the VBWF system, which formalized waste separation and introduced a financial incentive to reduce nonrecyclable waste. Households were charged based on the volume of general waste they generated, while recyclables could be disposed of free of charge. Food waste was initially collected with general waste, but began to be separated after a 2005 ban on its direct landfilling.

Recyclable garbage piles up outside an apartment complex in Seoul on Feb. 18. [YONHAP]

Before the adoption of the VBWF system, most waste had previously been sent to landfills, according to the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute. In 1984, 95.5 percent of household waste was landfilled. By 1994, the figure had fallen to 81.2 percent, while recycling accounted for just 15.3 percent.

Until 1995, fees were not tied to the amount of waste produced. Instead, they were incorporated into property taxes, meaning all household owners paid based on property value, regardless of how many people lived in the house.

“Before the VBWF system was introduced, people paid what was essentially a sewage tax through property taxes,” said Hong Su-yeol, head of Resource Recycling Consulting. “So those living in rental housing did not bear those costs directly.”

After the implementation

Following the introduction of designated garbage bags, recycling rates rose significantly. Between 1994 and 2023, recycling accounted for an average of 50.4 percent of waste, while landfilling fell to 30.1 percent and incineration accounted for 18.7 percent, according to a study by the Korea Waste Association submitted last year to the Climate Ministry.

Filtered smoke exits through the chimney of the Mapo Resource Recovery plant in western Seoul on Feb. 4. [PARK SANG-MOON]

“The pay-as-you-throw bags are not simply plastic bags, but a way of paying for waste management,” said Hong, the head of Resource Recycling Consulting.

“The system encourages separate waste collection by allowing recyclables to be disposed of for free while requiring payment for general waste,” he added.

The Climate Ministry estimates that the system has reduced waste by about 160 million tons, generating roughly 45 trillion won ($30.6 billion) in economic value.

Even so, overall waste generation has continued to increase, a trend experts attribute to higher consumption and changing lifestyles, such as deliveries.

With direct landfilling now banned in the greater Seoul area and set to be phased out nationwide by 2030, local governments consider the VBWF system essential.

A worker inspects rolls of standardized garbage bags produced using recycled raw materials processed from waste vinyl instead of naphtha at a factory in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, on April 9. [YONHAP]

Under the landfill ban, household waste collected in designated bags must now be incinerated before final disposal, making proper sorting even more important.

Reforming, not replacing

Koo Do-hee, a campaigner with the zero-waste team at the Seoul branch of the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements, stands by the current system. She said the VBWF system remains necessary, particularly because residents are accustomed to it.

But she said the system falls short in addressing emerging waste issues, stressing the need to adjust pricing.

“The price of these bags has remained virtually unchanged for decades despite the rising cost of living,” Koo said.

“For the system to remain effective as per capita waste increases, prices should better reflect current conditions,” she said. She added that gradual increases, rather than sharp hikes, could improve both effectiveness and public awareness.

The price of a 20-liter (5.28-gallon) waste bag rose from 460 won in 2013 to 523 won in 2022. This year, the average price is about 490 won in Seoul and around 700 won in Jeju, reflecting regional differences in processing costs.

A claw picks up trash at a bunker located at the Mapo Resource Recovery Plant in western Seoul on Feb. 4. [PARK SANG-MOON]

When the system was first discussed in 1993, policymakers aimed for households to cover up to 100 percent of waste management costs by 2001. In reality, that share has remained at around 30 percent over the past decade, with local governments covering the rest.

Hong echoed the view that the system should be improved by raising bag prices, but said abolishing it would be excessive.

“Scrapping it would require a fundamental overhaul of the country’s recycling framework,” he said.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [[email protected]]