Vermont is in the process of mandating that no food waste go into landfills. That sounds extreme, but the Washington Post reports (here) that South Korea does it, nationwide.
When they were first implemented, South Korea’s food waste policies were met with pushback from a public being forced to pay fines and fees for their dinner leftovers.
.But now, the country’s 50 million people consider food recycling a part of daily life.
.
Some Seoul high-rises have electronic waste bins that weigh food waste. Residents, who log their waste via a digital card, are charged by the month according to how much they throw out. Others buy government compost bags for as little as 10 cents, and dispose of them in streetside bins.Violators who mix their food into regular trash may be fined.
That’s more possible in a country with a stereotypical East Asian philosophy of working together; imagine the howling from Freedom Folks if we tried it here.
There’s a depressing bit in the story, however:
Despite all its success in recycling, the government still has not persuaded citizens to waste less food. The amount of food waste being created — about 5.5 million tons a year — has not changed much over five years, despite the cost and hassle of residents having to recycle it.
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