In this vlog, Kristin walks viewers through the confusing Korean waste‑disposal system as experienced by an expatriate living in Gangnam, Seoul. She explains that each "gu" (district) requires residents to purchase government‑issued colored plastic bags—typically pink for domestic waste and orange for commercial waste—and that these bags come in various capacities (5 L up to 100 L). Kristin describes the distinction between domestic and commercial bags, the importance of using the correct size, and the recycling process (unfolding the bag, separating recyclables, and placing them in designated cardboard bins). She details the strict trash‑collection schedule, the penalties for improper disposal (potential fines), and the need to follow district‑specific rules posted on street signs. After several failed attempts, she finally asks a neighbor for clarification, learns that daily disposal is allowed as long as the proper bag is used, and shares that the process, while initially bewildering, becomes manageable. The video mixes practical tips (where to buy bags, how to identify them, how to separate waste) with personal anecdotes about her building, lack of elevator, and aspirations, concluding with a call to action for viewers.
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Hello, so welcome to another channel of Kristin's messy room. No, um, thanks for watching my videos. I really appreciate it, guys. And today's video is about throwing out the trash in Korea. So, um, yeah, because when I first came to Korea, like, it's kind of still like even to this day kind of confusing because like, um, so depending on the gu you live in, like a district, I believe. I could be wrong, comment if it's wrong. I'm doing my best to help y'all but hopefully not mislead. Depending on the district you live in, the gu, then you get— you have to buy like a colored plastic bag. Like it's like a government-issued kind of thing, and you can buy that at a Pyeongnaejeom or a mart. I wish there was a place online to buy it, and if you know a place online to buy it, please tell me because I'm trying to minimize I just prefer buying things online these days after learning how to use Gmarket. And if you want to know how to learn Gmarket, I made another video about that that you can go watch. Anywhos, so I live in Gangnam, so I'll show you the bag I have to use. So I have to use this. It looks like this. And I was talking to the 피용이죠 worker today like Google translating mostly because my Korean needs to improve. But anyway, so there's like a commercial kind of bag and a domestic kind of use. And so he explained to me the pink one here for Gangnam, or at least in Shin Sedong. I live in Shin Sedong. This pink one is for domestic use. And then on the orange one, it said commercial use only. So for whatever reason, like when I— another time when I bought the bag here, like I think I've actually only bought it twice and I've lived here for nearly a year. Um, because usually I buy like the 100ml. Oh, then there's different size. So I got here, I got— that's 5 liter. And then you can get, I think, up to 100 liter. Yeah, these are liters. Um. Used to, in the past, I preferred getting 100 liters because you could just throw like everything in there. But these days I'm like, I don't know, trying to throw out the trash more often. So I want to— I would say 5 liter isn't, uh, this— yeah, 5 liter, it's not that good. It's for me, it's like a small size, but, um, I didn't I kind of like, like I said, I usually don't buy the, um, I haven't bought the trash, um, bags here in a while, so I kind of forgot the sizing. But I'd probably go up. It might come in 10L, maybe I'd buy like 10 or 20L. Not sure if it comes in that, but I would say don't get the 5L one, it's too small. Get a little bigger. Um, but depends how much waste you have, because in Korea they're big on recycling, so I think that's what I do more like I recycle my stuff. So I have this that's empty, and I guess you should— yeah, you should unfold it, and then I recycle it and put it into the, um, like cardboard kind of bin. Anyways, so recycling, better for the earth. I usually recycle, but yeah, I thought come with me down and throw my trash, I guess. Very fun. Oh, disgusting. Okay, I have to open the door. Um, I have to take— I have— you can see I have these shoes, and you can see there's my rolling box. Um, I have the Korean inside shoes, so I have to change to outside shoes. Okay, hopefully like the makeshift, um, oh, it's really dark. My makeshift, um, that's still dark. Oh my gosh, I almost hit this. Yeah, so anyways, la casa. I live next to a Korean family and, well, like, obviously it should be green. It's really nice. It seems like it's a mother and a son and maybe a daughter, but she either doesn't come there often or she doesn't leave often. I don't know. Maybe she lives somewhere else. Oh yeah, and there's no elevator in my building. The old place I lived in, I used to live in an officetel. And an officetel, like the cool thing with officetels are that they can be both— I shouldn't be so loud because it's starting to get late. Officetels, you can actually register your business there. But they're also— it was like a loft office, so it's pretty spacious. But the place now, not that spacious, but it's okay. I'm always happy to see— I always see like this Porsche parked right there, and it always like reminds me, it's like, goals, like I really want a Porsche one day. Okay, how are we getting rid of this trash today? I think it's like you can do it after 9 PM. Let's see, there's some rules here. See, rules for the trash. So let's see, let's figure out the rules here. The rules for the trash. So, oh, okay, it says food Then there's— ah, that's what they do. Like, okay. And cardboard, it doesn't seem to say anything about cardboard, but— oh, you could get a 1-liter bag maybe. Okay, I think we're figuring this out together. Actually, maybe this video is more about advice for me throwing out the trash, because I'm still confused because there's a lot of rules. So, uh, okay, I'll see if other people put out the trash. That's what I'll do. Looks like maybe— oh yeah, so people put some— okay, I'll just show. They put some paper thing there. I probably look ridiculous going through the streets with this. I don't know, I guess this is recyclable. See, people just like put the trash on a street corner. I'm telling you, it's freaking confusing for me. Throw out the trash. Hopefully I'm not— hopefully I'm not the only one confused. Okay, I'm just making sure. It's like, I think it's okay, but I'm not sure. Oh, this is so confusing, the trash. What do I do with my little trash? Do I put it? Do I put it there or do I not put it there? I wonder what this thing is. "Weedo sukam." Okay, trash adventure. I'm gonna see another place on the street because, okay, the thing is, if you throw out the trash incorrectly in Korea, you could get fined. It's either $100, $1,000, or I don't know, maybe $10,000. Probably not 10,000. So that's why I get confused with like, you know, man, like 100,000 kind of thing. I'm telling you my struggles with Korea, but I don't know, like, if the trash— because then some people put trash here and I don't know if it goes there, but— oh, darn Korea. Okay. Now I just want someone to tell me if I can throw out my trash. Okay, I don't know if I can put it here. If I can put it here, I don't know, because there's that there too. Oh, this is very confusing. I wish this I wish this was a live video and someone could help me right now because I don't want to put the trash in the wrong place. Oh, I'm gonna ask this man. Oh no, I don't want to scare him. Okay, considering I have bunny ears on and I'm like this weirdo king, crazy weirdo king walking around Gangnam at night with bunny ears. Okay, I don't know. Darn. Okay, wonder, looking for, uh, maybe I should ask someone. I don't know. Oh, maybe I don't know, I think trash day— see, this is why I feel so hindered to throw away my trash in Korea, because I don't know how to throw it. I don't know, maybe it goes in this bin. There's a bin back here. Let's see, back to the little Porsche, dream Porsche there. Okay, there's a trash bin here. Let's see, I don't think it goes in here because I think this is for food. I don't want to touch it. I don't know. Oh, I can't tell. Oh, struggle, really struggle. Hmm, okay, yeah, the little disposal area. But the thing is, like, I can't organize all of this because it's like random stuff, like like, okay, I was just going to say all the way, it's like, like, you know, hair from a hairbrush, you can't recycle that, you know. So, um, okay, what do I do? What should I do in this situation? Not every day maybe you can throw away trash. Cuz they're picking up bottles today. That's what it looks like. That looks like it's a bottle. Oh, um, I'm like, am I allowed to just put this out? Oh, the— on that one? Yeah. Okay, it's okay, they're not going to find me. It's okay. Every day it's okay? Oh, oh, thank you. Thank you. Okay, so I got it answered that now the trash can go there and you can put it there every day. And yeah, now I know because I asked for help. Okay, so we'll see if I get fined or not. But I just put it on the corner with all that, and every day is okay as long as it's in that bag. Oh great, yay, I asked my neighbor. Neighbor help! Well, okay, if you're watching this video and it's boring, then yeah, maybe you could just skip through it all. But if you are still watching and you want more videos, then then you can like and subscribe and comment anything. So thanks for watching, and I hope this helped. You can put— as long as you have that little bag, and at least in my— you have the little domestic trash bag that you bought from the convenience store, Pion-e Jyomamari, then you can put it out by everyone else's little trash every day if you want to. So every day, every day is trash day. And I live up 5 set of stairs, so I have to walk a lot. Okay, again, thank you for watching and have a good night. Bye!
