Moving and living in Korea, you'll inevitably face waste sorting. To throw out food waste in most areas, what do you need?

To dispose of food waste in most Korean areas, residents need either a dedicated food-waste volume-based bag purchased locally, or, in many apartment complexes, an RFID card that's tapped at a shared disposal unit equipped with a scale, which weighs the waste and charges the household accordingly. Both methods keep food waste separate from general trash so it can be processed into compost or animal feed rather than sent to a landfill mixed with other refuse.

An ordinary black plastic bag isn't accepted for food waste any more than it is for general waste, and pouring food scraps down the drain is neither the intended method nor good practice, since it can clog plumbing and bypass the entire waste-processing system.

The RFID weight-based system in particular incentivizes reducing food waste at the source, since households literally see and pay for the exact weight they discard, which has measurably nudged some residents toward more careful meal planning and portioning.