Koreans' Lack of Common Sense This Bad... Highway Turns into Chuseok Trash Dump with 'Car Window Flung Open'

Average Daily 54.8t During Chuseok Holiday... Twice the Usual
Assemblyman Min Hong-cheol "Need to Improve Driver Awareness"

The photo and the main text are not directly related. [Photo by Yonhap News]

The amount of trash discarded on highways during the Chuseok holiday period was found to be more than double the usual daily amount.

According to data obtained from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport by the office of Min Hong-cheol, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, a total of 47,737 tons of trash was collected from private and public highways over five years from 2019 to 2023. This means that approximately 26 tons of trash were generated daily on average.

By year, the amounts were 8,548 tons in 2019, 9,737 tons in 2020, and 10,345 tons in 2021, followed by a decrease to 9,668 tons in 2022 and 9,439 tons last year.

Highway trash was especially abundant during the Chuseok holiday period. The average daily amount of highway trash generated during the Chuseok holidays over the past five years was 56.7 tons in 2019, 51.5 tons in 2020, 55.2 tons in 2021, 59.3 tons in 2022, and 52.1 tons last year. On average, about 54.8 tons of trash were discarded daily on highways during the Chuseok holidays, which is more than twice the average daily amount of trash (26 tons) for the entire period.

The Lunar New Year holiday showed a similar pattern. The average daily amount of trash generated during the Lunar New Year holidays by year was 52.2 tons in 2019, 48.9 tons in 2020, 65.9 tons in 2021, 47.2 tons in 2022, and 66.1 tons in 2023, with approximately 55.7 tons of trash collected daily during the Lunar New Year holidays over five years.

Representative Min stated, "We can no longer ignore the sharp increase in trash generation during holiday periods," adding, "Not only is it necessary to improve drivers' awareness, but active measures by the government and local governments are also required."