Seoul 164 Households' 'Trash Diet' Cuts Waste by 40%... Single-Person Households Lead Reduction

Citizens Themselves Set Waste Reduction Plans and Measure Disposal Amounts with Scales
Per Capita Household Waste Disposal Reduced by About 40.8%... Single-Person Households Reduce More Than Twice Compared to Four-Person Households

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] As a result of Seoul City’s ‘Garbage Diet’ program, which involved 164 households of various sizes from single-person to four-person households, the average amount of household waste generated per person decreased by more than 40%.

According to Seoul City on the 10th, comparing the first month (September) and the last month (November) of the program, the average amount of household waste generated per person in participating households (using volume-based waste bags) decreased from 5.81kg to 3.44kg, a 40.8% reduction. The ‘Garbage Diet’ is a citizen practice program where each household voluntarily sets a waste reduction plan, measures the amount of waste generated using scales, and receives expert advice to challenge how much household waste they can reduce. The participating households consisted of 38 single-person households, 18 two-person households, 36 three-person households, and 72 four-person households, totaling 164 households.

In particular, single-person households reduced the most waste, more than twice as much per person compared to four-person households. The larger the household size, the smaller the scale of reduction. Measuring the total amount of waste reduced per person, the order was: single-person households 5.86kg, two-person households 4.85kg, three-person households 3.89kg, and four-person households 2.76kg.

The amount of recyclable waste separated per person (paper, vinyl, plastic, styrofoam) also decreased by 31.41% as the total waste decreased. By item, paper decreased the most from 3.55kg to 2.35kg, followed by plastic (1.73kg to 1.09kg), vinyl (0.64kg to 0.56kg), and styrofoam (0.37kg to 0.31kg).

Comparing the reduction rates of volume-based waste versus recyclable waste between single-person and multi-person households, multi-person households showed similar rates with a 1-2% difference, whereas single-person households had a volume-based waste reduction rate (48.77%) about twice that of recyclable waste (24.89%). This is interpreted as the waste previously discarded in volume-based bags being separated and disposed of as recyclables.

During the program period, participants actively shared tips on waste separation, know-how on reducing waste in daily life, and ideas for reduction through the community (Band). A total of 145 people joined the Band, uploading 258 posts including photos and writings. Various unique ideas for waste reduction emerged, such as using zero-waste stores, using tumblers, personal containers, and shopping bags for continuous daily practice, donating bubble wrap packaging from delivery parcels to the post office, and using tangerine and orange peels soaked in alcohol for cleaning.

Meanwhile, Seoul City confirmed through the ‘Garbage Diet’ program that the efforts of single-person households are highly effective in reducing waste and plans to prepare related education and campaigns. They also plan to continuously conduct focused inspections on excessive packaging, which generates a lot of disposable waste, through autonomous districts. The goal is to reduce waste throughout the entire process from production to consumption and disposal.

Jung Mi-sun, Director of the Resource Circulation Division of Seoul City, said, “As COVID-19 prolongs and awareness of disposable product use has weakened, household waste has greatly increased. Seoul City will continue to support citizens’ daily waste reduction practices to spread further.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.