Strengthening Pilot Operation of 'Separate Disposal System' for Vinyl and Transparent PET Bottles in Seoul Area

Detached Houses and Commercial Buildings Only on Thursdays and Fridays... Apartments Separate from Other Plastic Types

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 4th that starting this month, it will strengthen the pilot operation of the 'separate disposal system,' which requires separating vinyl and transparent PET bottles for beverages and water from other recyclables when disposing of recyclables.

Accordingly, in the future, single-family houses and commercial buildings in the Seoul area must dispose of vinyl and transparent PET bottles in separate bags only on Thursdays, instead of mixing all recyclables as before. Other recyclables should be disposed of on days other than Thursday.

However, in districts where Thursday is not included in the existing recyclable disposal days, vinyl and transparent PET bottles can be disposed of on Fridays.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government's principle is that if other items except these two are disposed of on the designated day or if mixed disposal is done as before, collection will not be carried out.

In the case of apartments (multi-family housing), transparent PET bottles for beverages and water, which are currently disposed of together with plastics, should be separated and disposed of in dedicated collection bins.

Previously, all plastics such as PET, PVC, PE, PP, and PS were mixed and disposed of together, but from now on, colorless and transparent PET bottles for beverages and water must be separated from other plastics and disposed of separately. Brown PET bottles for beer, colored beverage PET bottles, and opaque Makgeolli PET bottles should be disposed of with other plastics, separate from transparent PET bottles.

In this regard, the Ministry of Environment plans to revise the 'Guidelines on Separate Collection of Recyclable Resources' within the first half of this year to improve the current disposal and collection methods of recyclable resources, and make it mandatory for apartments starting July this year.

The city emphasized that due to the increase in single-use items and delivery and courier use caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of recyclable waste has increased, while the recycling market has become unstable due to falling prices and export bans, making active citizen participation in the separate disposal of vinyl and transparent PET bottles necessary.

Kim Yoon-soo, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Resource Circulation Division, said, "With the total volume control system at the metropolitan landfill being implemented this year, reducing household waste is very important," and added, "We ask for active cooperation in the separate disposal of vinyl and transparent PET bottles to increase resource recycling rates."