Implementing a Pay-as-You-Throw System

The amount of daily waste<1> generated by 10.3 million citizens, 4 million households and 780,000 businesses in 2012 was 9,189 tons per day, or 0.88 kg per person. All such waste has to be discarded according to regulations of the 25 autonomous gu-districts, who also issue the waste bags that must be used when households dispose of this waste (to be sent to incineration facilities or landfills).

Food waste must go in standard waste bags that are purchased by the consumer, or a chip- or RFID-based system must be used. Large items require that stickers be purchased from the relevant gu-districts, which are then attached to the item before discarding, or large items can be delivered to specialized waste collection agents (Ministry of Environment, Nov. 2012; Resource Recirculation Bureau, Ministry of Environment, Nov. 2012). Items that can be recycled like paper, scrap metal, large and small home appliances, fluorescent lamps, batteries, cooking oil, etc. should be separated and discarded according to government regulations (Ministry of Environment, 2011).
 
For general and food waste, the consumer covers all or part of the cost of waste collection and handling, which depends on the amount of waste discarded. It is called a “pay-as-you-throw” system. General waste and food waste are measured differently. General waste goes in standard bags which are made according to the standards<2> set by the government. The consumer can purchase the desired size of such bags at convenience stores, grocery stores, laundromats and other designated establishments.

The costs of collecting and handling the waste, producing the bags and paying commissions to the stores are all included in the price of the bags, making them a kind of marketable security.
 
There are various ways to measure food waste: an RFID-based weighing system, RFID chips (or stickers) or standard waste bags. The RFID-based weighing system imposes disposal fees according to weight. One advantage of this system is the accurate weighing of discarded waste. Disadvantages include that the system is a complicated configuration of weighing devices, a discarder recognition system and storing devices to save information on who threw away how much. Chips or stickers are used with standard containers. Daily and monthly volume measuring are all possible with this method.
 
Besides recyclables, large items and used coal briquettes, which are allowed to be discarded via other methods, all other waste must be discarded in Seoul according to a volume-based waste fee (VBWF) system. Failure to pay the related fees is a violation of the Waste Management Act and local ordinances, and is subject to the related penalties. 

<Table 1> Breakdown of Elements in the Pay-as-You-Throw System in Seoul

Background to Introduction of the Pay-as-You-Throw System

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Korea felt full of self-confidence thanks to its successful hosting of the Asian Games in 1986 and the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988, as well as continuing economic success. A great variety of products were available and plastic was mass-produced thanks to the development of production technologies.

So many products led to increasing amounts of waste. Seoul, the nation’s capital, could not secure the space needed for landfills to handle more waste, as the city continued expanding outwards.
 
As Nanji Landfill (operated from 1978 to 1993) came close to capacity, the central government led a project to establish new waste treatment facilities in the metropolitan area to treat the waste from Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi-do (province) in 1989. But moving forward proved very difficult due to strong opposition from residents living near the expected locations of these facilities.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) also planned to build 11 incineration facilities for all daily waste from Seoul, but encountered opposition from neighboring citizens and civil society concerned about excessive facility construction. By 1996, only the incineration facilities in Yangcheon (400 tons per day) and Nowon (800 tons per day) had been built, and only 4 more (with a total capacity for 2,850 tons of waste per day) after that. To address the increasing quantity of toxic waste, the government started to take an interest in recycling as an alternative.

Recycling boxes appeared in Seoul apartment complexes in 1990, and began to be provided to detached housing neighborhoods the following year. However, people were not familiar with the idea of separating their garbage, and in detached housing neighborhoods, half of the collected recyclables was general garbage. In addition, the changes in waste management cost a lot of money, used landfills a long distance away, and required incineration facilities. As shown in the data from 1991, waste management cost KRW 280 billion while fees covered only KRW 25.4 billion - just 9% of the total bill. Most of the expenses for waste treatment were absorbed by the general account budget, while waste generators, the general public, absorbed very little (SMG, 1992). 

<Figure 1> Main Waste Management Projects Before & After Introduction of the Pay-as-You-Throw System

 

In this situation, the government started seeking ways to fundamentally reduce the amount of waste (waste reduction), lower the dependence on incineration facilities or landfills through recycling (promotion of recycling), and charge waste generators (the general public) for the costs of waste management (securing financial resources). The pay-as-you-throw system was chosen. Entering the 1980s, the necessity of introducing such a system had been raised in a corner of academic circles (Environmental Planning Institute, Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Environment, 1983; Jeong-jeon Lee, 1991).

However, prior to 1995, the fees for waste disposal in Seoul had been collected as a kind of tax based on building areas or property taxes, which had nothing to do with the amount of waste produced (Ki-young Yu and Jae-cheon Jeong, 1995). The pay-as-you-throw system was established through creation of the right social atmosphere, conditions for implementation, and pilot projects, etc., and has gone through several changes before it reached its current form.
 

<Table 2> Waste Disposal Fee Systems in Seoul Prior to Pay-as-You-Throw

 

	Types of Waste	Grade	Basis for Calculating Fees
1980s	General waste (small amount)	7	Total building ground area
	General waste (large amount)	-	Weight
	Business waste	6	Total building ground area
Early 1990s	Household waste	9	Total building ground area/ property tax
	Business waste (large amount)	2	Weight
	Business Site Waste (Small Amount)	6	Total building ground area
1994 (Just before introduction of the pay-as-you-throw system)	Household waste	9	Total building ground area
	Business waste (small amount)	6	Total building ground area
	Business waste (normal amount)	1	Volume
	Business waste (large amount)	2	Volume
	Construction waste	-	Volume
	Home appliances	7	Kind, volume
	Furniture	7	Kind, volume
1995 (Enforcement of pay-as-you-throw system)	General/Food waste	-	Size, number of standard bags
	Large items	-	Kind, size, number
	Recyclable items	-	Free

- Preparation Stage (1992~1994)

The pay-as-you-throw system was introduced in 1995, but preparations began in the early 1990s with practical arrangements started in 1992 with the government at its center. Surveys and research were conducted from September 1992 to January 1993 by the Korea Society of Waste Management to verify the usefulness of such a system. The main thrust of the survey and research were amendment of relevant legislation, measures for enforcement, expected effects, ripple effects, etc. In 1993, the government began the process of collecting the opinions of people from all walks of life regarding introduction of the system.

Public hearings and meetings with private organizations, relevant experts, cleaning companies, etc. (Feb. ~ Jul. 1993), meetings with consumer groups, groups of housewives and waste bag manufacturers (Jul. 1993), and meetings with managers of urban and provincial cleaning departments were held during the process, and opinions collected from waste subcommittees (Jul. ~ Aug. 1993). The opinions of related organizations and institutes on the legal status of standard waste bags were also heard (Sep. 1993). The result was that the waste bags could be regarded as official documents as long as the positions of mayor or district heads as well as the marks of the city hall or the gu-district offices were on the bags, and that it would be considered forgery of official documents if anyone were to create and sell their own bags that claimed to be official.
 
One year before the pay-as-you-throw system was introduced nationwide, pilot projects were conducted in 33 cities, counties and districts (Apr. ~ Dec. 1994). In Seoul, Jung-gu participated as a commercial area, Seongbuk-gu as a detached housing area and Songpa-gu as an apartment area (SMG, 1994). Before that, the central government announced measures to aid implementation of the system, including the waste fees, ways to distribute the standard bags, and handling the expected increase of recyclables (Nov. 1993).

During the pilot projects, the government concentrated on finding details on the waste discarded, standard waste bags, degree of public participation, flow of community opinions, etc. The government assembled a civil assessment team consisting of 7 civic groups including the YWCA, YMCA, Green Korea United, the Korean Federation of Environmental Movements and 165 monitoring agents to provide assessment and reporting on the status of the projects. There were significant concerns about negative effects, such as illegal dumping, but the assessment was mostly positive due to the 40% reduction of total waste, 100% increase in recyclables collected, the reduced cleaning costs, expansion of public awareness about reducing waste, and greater confidence in the program by civil employees.
 
Based on the problems that appeared during the pilot projects, the central government issued its “Guidelines on the Pay-as-You-Throw System” (Sep. 8th, 1994) to enforce it on a national scale. On November 7th, 1994, it held a meeting with the related urban and provincial officials to conduct an interim evaluation of the project by local governments. On December 7th of the same year, the government issued guidelines on how to fix the problems identified during the interim inspection, such as the expected rapid increase of regional processing of recyclables, handling the large amount of waste expected to be thrown away just before enforcement of the new system at the end of the year, and increasing the manpower it would need.

In addition, the government revised and amended related ordinances, initiated the manufacturing of the waste bags, designated the stores to sell the bags, and engaged in public relations activities, etc. in preparation for system introduction on Jan. 1st, 1995. In particular, the government carried out a public relations campaign to address complaints from the public about why they should have to pay to throw away their garbage via media outlets such as TV commercials, advertisements in the daily press, and TV talk shows, and made and distributed promotional materials like VTR tapes, PR books, and posters (Ministry of Environment and Korea Environment Institute, 2012).

<Figure 2> Main Projects in Introducing the Pay-as-You-Throw System

- Introduction Stage (1995)

- Development Stage (From 1996)

This metered waste fee system has continued to develop. During the process, the government periodically monitored the system to see how it was operating and to identify any problems. This included system acceptance by the general public, inconveniences when discarding, problems during cleaning, and issues related to the recycling industry in general. In the beginning, the government annually evaluated system achievements, holding a meeting in 2005 to look back on the system’s first 10 years. In 2004, it began to review statistics of standard bag sales by local governments, waste treatment facilities, ways to secure the financial resources for cleaning, enforcement of regulations against illegal dumping, etc. and issued a report. The guidelines for the waste disposal system were amended in 1997, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012.
 

<Figure 3> Sourcebook on Achievements of the Waste Disposal System & Improvements to Implementation

Accelerating Waste Reduction

Early Adoption of Habitual Separation of Recyclables

Fees to Cover Waste Management Costs

Economic Benefits

- Thorough Preparation

The VBWF system is inconvenient for citizens as discarders of waste. Even experts opposed introduction of the system, saying that other countries hesitated out of concern for illegal dumping. Korea’s pay-as-you-throw system was introduced with the support of the government, cities and some scholars concerned about the difficulty in securing the necessary waste treatment facilities, but not the support of the majority of people.

To cope with this negative atmosphere, it was necessary to remove the institutional obstacles in advance, create an amicable situation for the system, identify the benefits and problems through pilot projects and persuade people of the benefits. It was particularly imperative to find the best methods for implementation in each city during the preparation stages. In Seoul, it was not easy to identify waste discarders because there are many commercial and residential high-rises and the city space is small and narrow. This is why Seoul decided to use standard waste bags as the way to measure the amount of waste.

However, it was desirable to use bins only for waste in areas with many detached houses and developed roads because it was possible to prevent excessive waste of disposable bags and illegal dumping through an agreement with the public on the size of waste bins and to reduce the cost of waste collection with an automated bin loading vehicle system.

Cooperation with the Public

Environmental associations played a large role in the public adapting the pay-as-you-throw system in Korea. During discussions on introduction of the system, the general public did not have a favorable opinion, due to concerns about illegal dumping to avoid paying the fees and unease with the intention of government to shift the responsibility for reducing and recycling waste onto the people. However, the positive aspects of the system became better known with people participating in site monitoring activities and pilot projects during the first year of project implementation.


The public has continued to participate in evaluations of the pilot project and the first, second and tenth years of implementation. Even now it is involved in assessing the food waste disposal system. Positive evaluations from society have contributed greatly to the change of attitude in the mass media and national consciousness.

Handling the Increased Amount of Recyclables

The collection of separated recyclables free of charge was implemented in a short time, but processing the collected recyclables became the task of the government. The biggest headache was the non-PET plastic containers (PE, PP, PS and PVC materials). While designated as recyclables, there was insufficient infrastructure to treat such plastic products. In addition, the producers were not responsible for the treatment of waste plastic because the waste handling fees were imposed on most plastic containers.

The issue was resolved in 2003 when the government lent financial support to plastic recycling operators to assist with facility installation and operations, had the public sector purchase products of recycled plastic over new plastic, and imposed on manufacturers the obligation to collect and process recyclables (including the plastic containers) where the recycling market was weak (Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme).
 
With introduction of the pay-as-you-throw system, an unplanned recycling component was added. Because of the strong odors from landfills, many complaints were raised one year after system introduction. The same complaints were heard about roads leading to waste treatment facilities. The cause of the problem was food waste and the paper used to wrap it. This paper acted as an odor buffer in standard bags, absorbing the leachate and blocking the smell of the food waste to some degree, but the paper was classified as a recyclable item.

The main cause of the odor was that this paper was no longer discarded with general waste, a problem that was resolved by collecting the food waste separately and changing the treatment system on a large scale. Landfill for any kind of food waste was prohibited in 2005, and the government began constructing food waste treatment facilities in 1998. Seoul has 5 such locations, with private facilities providing extra capacity.

Preventing Illegal Behavior

When reviewing the system, the most concerning side effect was the illegal dumping done to avoid paying the fees. Many people dumped household or business trash in public wastebaskets or in quiet or abandoned places and did not use the standard waste bags. To prevent this, reflectors were installed and flower gardens put where illegal dumping was common. Some districts removed public wastebaskets on downtown streets.

This reduced illegal dumping significantly, but did not eliminate it. In the meantime, the systems supporting the imposition of penalties for illegal waste disposal and providing standard bags to low-income households free of charge were prepared.

• Future Environment, Rampant Food Waste Dumping in the Food Waste Bag System Enforced Areas: Status Survey of Resource Circulation Society United, Max 1.42 Case by Dong, http://www.ecofuturenetwork.co.kr
• Graduate School of Environment of the Seoul National University, 1983. Study on the Efficient Management of Solid Waste in the Cities
• The Seoul Metropolitan Government, 1992, 1992 Administration of Seoul
• The Seoul Metropolitan Government, 1994, Detailed Guidelines for the Pay as you throw system
• The Seoul Metropolitan Government, RFID Food Waste Disposal System, Seoul Policy Archive (https://seoulsolution.kr)
• Yong-Seon Oh, 2006, Critical Evaluation on the Environment Improvement by the Pay as you throw system, Korean Policy Studies Review, 15(2):245-270
• Ki-yeong Yu and Jae-cheon Jeong, 1995, Problems of Fixed Ratio Fee System and Effects of Pay as you throw system: with Seoul as the Center, Journal of Korean Environmental Engineering, 17(9): 907～915
• Beon-song Lee, Ji-wuk Kim, Ki-young Yu and Sang-hu Park, 1996, Evaluation of the Pay as you throw system and Improvement Methods
• Jeong-jeon Lee, 1991, Study on Policy Improvement to Facilitate Environmental Improvement, Seminar Materials of International Trade Management Research Institute
• Our Dong News, Junghwa 1-dong, Jungnang-gu, http://dong.jungnang.seoul.kr
• Chungnam Public Design Center, Public Design Creation Projects of the Local Governments, http://www.cpdc.re.kr
• Waste 21, Illegal Dumping in the City Outskirts, http://waste21.or.kr
• Korea Institute of Industrial Relations and Korean Environment Corporation, Dec. 2013, Study on Performance Evaluation of Food Waste Disposal System and Development Plan
• Resource Recirculation Bureau of the Ministry of Environment, 2012.11, Guidelines for Pay as you throw system including Food Waste Discharge and Fees
• Ministry of Environment, 1997.5, Guidelines for Enforcement of Pay as you throw system
• Ministry of Environment, 2012.11, Guidelines for the Volume-rage Waste Disposal System
• Ministry of Environment· Korea Environment Institute, 2012, 2011 Modula Modularization Program of Economic Development Experiences: Volume-rate Waste Disposal Policy
• Minister of Environment, 2011, Guidelines for the Separate Collection of the Recyclables, etc., (Order No. 859 of Ministry of Environment, 18 Aug. 2009)

- 1994 Piloted volume-based waste fee system (Commercial arcades - Jung-gu / detached housing area – Seongbuk-gu / apartments - Songpa gu)
- 1995 Volume-based waste fee system launched (first nationwide implementation)
- 2010 Reusable VBWF bags in place
- 2013 Volume-based food waste fee system launched

Figure 1. Seoul’s Waste Treatment Before & After Launching of the Volume-Based Waste Fee System

Source: The Seoul Institute (2015)

• Reduce waste generation at source
• Establish habit of separating garbage and recyclable materials before disposal
• Reduce dependence on waste processing facilities (incinerating facilities and landfills) 

Disposal Fees

1) Household Solid Waste Reduced

2) Contribution to the Habit of Separating Garbage & Recyclables Before Disposal

3) Covering Waste Treatment Costs with VBWF System Profit

4) Economic Benefit

1) Supply of Recyclable Waste

Recyclable waste is categorized into paper, plastic, scrap metal (including cans) and glass bottles. The VBWF system, which stipulates that collection of recyclable goods shall be for free, helped establish, in a short period, the habit of separating recyclables from garbage. In the meantime, recyclables had not been well utilized, which became the burden of the government. Particularly problematic was what use to make of non-PET plastic containers (PE, PP, PS or PVC). Even though they are designated as recyclables, the supporting infrastructure was inadequate. Moreover, as the VBWF system focused on imposing charges on plastic containers, producers were not responsible for recyclable waste. A deposit system was in place, which levied a refundable container deposit on consumers. However, that system applied to only a few items such as paper packs, PET bottles, steel cans and glass bottles. Unfortunately, many producers gave up the deposit, rendering the deposit system ineffective in utilizing the collected recyclable waste.
 

Solutions

The government offered loans to plastic recycling facilities to assist with installation and operation. In addition, products manufactured with recycled plastics were preferentially purchased by the public sector. Also, in 2003, an expanded producer responsibility (EPR) was imposed on manufacturers, which replaced the deposit system and held the manufacturer responsible for the costs of managing their products at end of life. The EPR’s coverage was also extended to include paper packs, plastic containers, scrap metals (including steel cans), glass bottles, large and small home appliances, discarded fluorescent lamps, and used batteries. This dramatically improved the supply and demand situation.
 

2) Food Waste

Difficulties in Implementing the VBWF System

Even though the VBWF system was in place, food waste was thrown out in the standard food waste bin in most autonomous gu-districts and a flat rate levied on each household regardless of the amount generated. Some districts did not use the VBWF bags and collected the food waste free of charge. The standard bag was polyethylene, which became foreign material in food waste treatment, lowering the quality of feed or compost made from the food waste, and making feed or compost consumers reluctant to buy. The districts also had a hard time justifying imposing fees for food waste which could simply go into the regular garbage collection, while they were collecting recyclables free of charge.
 

Solutions

It was very difficult to turn the enormous amounts of generated food waste into recycled resources or apply the expanded producer responsibility scheme. Thus, the SMG decided to introduce a system of weighing food waste in order to reduce it. The government felt that the system should operate not on the basis of volume, but on the basis of weight because food waste is heavier than general waste. As a result of this change, it was reported that food waste was reduced by 10~30% (Korea Institute of Industrial Relations and Korea Environment Corporation, Dec. 2013). Under this system, the amount of food waste is recorded by each individual when it is discarded, and households are charged monthly fees accordingly. However, the system is not used with all households, but only some apartment complexes, as system installation and operation is costly and requires space. For detached houses and restaurants, the standard bags or standard containers with identification chips are generally used.
 

Odors from Food Waste

Because of the strong odors from landfills, many complaints were raised the first year of system introduction. The same complaints were heard about roads leading to waste treatment facilities. The cause of the problem was food waste and the paper used to wrap it. This paper acted as an odor buffer in standard bags, absorbing the leachate and blocking the smell of the food waste to some degree, but since the VBWF system was introduced, this paper was classified as a recyclable item and separated.
 

Solution

The problem of odor was resolved by a massive change in the system for handling food waste, where it was disposed of, collected, and processed separately. Since 1998, the SMG has embarked on the construction and operation of 5 public food treatment facilities and also has commissioned private facilities as well. In 2005, food waste was banned from any landfills.

 

3) Waste Bags

 
Material: Broken glass and construction waste are sharp and heavy, often injuring sanitary workers, particularly during collection.
 

Solution

Since 1997, special VBWF bags have been manufactured especially for such physically dangerous waste. These bags are made of durable poly propylene.
 

Environmental Issues

VBWF bags, the essence of the VBWF system, are very convenient, especially in big cities like Seoul as the system inherently passes the cost of handling waste onto the people who generate it. However, many have asked whether it is appropriate to use single-use VBWF bags.
 

Solution

As a way to partially resolve this, the government had shopping giants (including E-mart, Homeplus, Lotte Mart, Nonghyup Hanaro Mart, and Mega Mart) sell VBWF bags to shoppers instead of offering their customary free plastics bags. These VBWF bags are called “reusable” in Korea as they are used at least once as shopping bags and then finally as VBWF bags. The price of the bags is identical to VBWF bags available elsewhere.
 

4) Negative Public Sentiment toward the VBWF System

The VBWF system was instituted with the strong support of government, cities and some academics who felt a sense of crisis due to the difficulties in securing sites for waste treatment facilities, but not with the support of the general public. After all, the system is quite inconvenient from the perspective of citizens, who generate the waste, and many experts argued that other nations would not introduce it for fear of widespread illegal dumping.

Solution

To overcome the negative feelings about the VBWF system, the authorities made efforts to get rid of institutional stumbling blocks and explored the benefits and effects as well as possible problems, and were able to persuade the population.

- Thorough Preparation

It was imperative to figure out what type of VBWF system was best for the city during the preparation stages. Seoul chose the VBWF bags as a means to measure waste volumes as otherwise it is quite costly to identify every person who disposes of waste in a densely-populated city with plenty of residential and commercial high-rises.
However, it was desirable to use bins only for waste in areas with many detached houses and developed roads because it was possible to prevent excessive waste of throw-away VBWF bags and illegal dumping through an agreement with the public on the size of waste bins and to reduce the cost of waste collection with an automated bin loading vehicle system.

- Cooperation with Civic Groups

Environmental associations played a large role in the public adapting the pay-as-you-throw system in Korea. During discussions on introduction of the system, these associations did not have a favorable opinion, due to concerns about illegal dumping to avoid paying the fees and unease with the intention of government to shift the responsibility for reducing and recycling waste onto the people. However, the positive aspects of the system became better known with people participating in site monitoring activities and pilot projects during the first year of project implementation. These associations have continued to participate in evaluations of the pilot project and of the first, second and tenth years of implementation. Even now they are involved in assessing the food waste disposal system. Positive evaluations from society have contributed greatly to the change of attitude in the mass media and national consciousness.
 

5) Illegal Dumping

When reviewing the system, the most concerning side effect was the illegal dumping done to avoid paying the fees. Many people dumped household or business trash in public wastebaskets or in quiet or abandoned places and did not use the standard waste bags.
 

Solution

 
To prevent this, reflectors were installed and flower gardens put where illegal dumping was common. Some districts removed public wastebaskets on downtown streets. This reduced illegal dumping significantly, but did not eliminate it. In the meantime, the systems supporting the imposition of penalties for illegal waste disposal and providing standard bags to low-income households free of charge were prepared.

Figure 4. Illegal Dumping & Countermeasures

6) Legal Framework for Institutionalization of the Volume-based Waste Fee System       

- Legal Grounds for the Volume-based Waste Fee System
The basis for enforcement of the VBWF system is the Waste Management Act. Local governments are authorized to determine the details of implementation through ordinances. The Act also deals with penalties for illegal dumping.

Each regional authority has specific regulations on enforcing the system in its own ordinances. It regulates the kinds of waste to which the pay-as-you-throw system applies, as well as the methods of disposal, fees, standard bag type/color/material, supervision of manufacture and management of standard bags, designation of and guidelines for the stores that will sell them, and criteria on cancelling a standard bag seller agreement, etc.

The bag size, material, strength and type are determined by the Korean Standard on Plastic Products, to which all specifications are subject and those that do not meet the standard are failed during inspections.

To prevent counterfeiting, the seals for printing on the bags are kept by each regional authority and handed over to the manufacturers only when they have already produced the standard bags. Anybody caught making or distributing counterfeit bags is subject to punishment under criminal law on unauthorized fabrication of official documents.

Table 7.  Legal Framework for Implementation of Seoul’s VBWF System

Phased Price Increase of VBWF Bags

Seoul released guidelines on the price rise in its efforts to address this impending crisis, bringing the wide-ranging prices of VBWF bags from district to district to greater similarity and increasing the lowest price of VBWF bags in Seoul in phases until 2017.

In other words, by 2018, the price of VBWF bags will have been raised gradually to where prices in all autonomous gu-districts in Seoul will be similar. The final prices for 20 liter VBWF bags will be KRW 492 and KRW 187 for 2 liter food waste bags.

To sum up, these price increases mainly aim to reduce the financial burden of local districts, as well as reducing waste.

People would throw away less if VBWF bags cost more, and even go so far as to not generate as much waste in the first place. To these ends, the VBWF system has been instituted and the prices raised.

• Future Environment, Rampant Food Waste Dumping in the Food Waste Bag System Enforced Areas: Status Survey of Resource Circulation Society United, Max 1.42 Case by Dong, http://www.ecofuturenetwork.co.kr
• Graduate School of Environment of the Seoul National University, 1983. Study on the Efficient Management of Solid Waste in the Cities
• The Seoul Metropolitan Government, 1992, 1992 Administration of Seoul
• The Seoul Metropolitan Government, 1994, Detailed Guidelines for the Pay as you throw system
• The Seoul Metropolitan Government, RFID Food Waste Disposal System, Seoul Policy Archive (https://seoulsolution.kr)
• Yong-Seon Oh, 2006, Critical Evaluation on the Environment Improvement by the Pay as you throw system, Korean Policy Studies Review, 15(2):245-270
• Ki-yeong Yu and Jae-cheon Jeong, 1995, Problems of Fixed Ratio Fee System and Effects of Pay as you throw system: with Seoul as the Center, Journal of Korean Environmental Engineering, 17(9): 907～915
• Beon-song Lee, Ji-wuk Kim, Ki-young Yu and Sang-hu Park, 1996, Evaluation of the Pay as you throw system and Improvement Methods
• Jeong-jeon Lee, 1991, Study on Policy Improvement to Facilitate Environmental Improvement, Seminar Materials of International Trade Management Research Institute
• Our Dong News, Junghwa 1-dong, Jungnang-gu, http://dong.jungnang.seoul.kr
• Chungnam Public Design Center, Public Design Creation Projects of the Local Governments, http://www.cpdc.re.kr
• Waste 21, Illegal Dumping in the City Outskirts, http://waste21.or.kr
• Korea Institute of Industrial Relations and Korean Environment Corporation, Dec. 2013, Study on Performance Evaluation of Food Waste Disposal System and Development Plan
• Resource Recirculation Bureau of the Ministry of Environment, 2012.11, Guidelines for Pay as you throw system including Food Waste Discharge and Fees
• Ministry of Environment, 1997.5, Guidelines for Enforcement of Pay as you throw system
• Ministry of Environment, 2012.11, Guidelines for the Volume-rage Waste Disposal System
• Ministry of Environment· Korea Environment Institute, 2012, 2011 Modula Modularization Program of Economic Development Experiences: Volume-rate Waste Disposal Policy
• Minister of Environment, 2011, Guidelines for the Separate Collection of the Recyclables, etc., (Order No. 859 of Ministry of Environment, 18 Aug. 2009)
• Yoo, Ki-young (2015), Seoul Solution Waste, The Seoul Institute , ‘Waste’ section, The Seoul Institute
• Seoul Metropolitan Government, 1992, 92 Seoul City Administration
• Minister of Environment, 2011, Guide in separate discharge of recyclable resources and etc. (Ministry of Environment, Directive, No.859, 2009. 8. 18)
• Ministry of Environment, 2012. 11, Volume based Waste Fee system implementation guide
• Ministry of Environment, Resources Recirculation Bureau, (2012) Implementation guide on volume-based waste fee system for the discharge of food waste
• Sohn, Youngbae(2001), Volume-based waste fee system, Who established it and how did it go? ‘Monthly magazine waste 21’, 2(7) : 1-5
• Oh, yong-sun, 2006, A Critical Evaluation on the Effect of Environmental Improvement by Volume-based Waste Fee System, 「Korean Association for Policy Studies Newsletter」, 15(2) : 245-270
• Korea Institute for Industrial Research·Korea Environment Corporation, (2013). A study on the performance evaluation and development of volume-based food waste fee system
• Ministry of Environment·Korea Environment Institute, 2012, Modularization of Korea's economic development experience : Volume-based wastee fee system
• SBS, 2015. 8. 6, The price of volume-based waste fee bags, should it be raised?