TRASH TALK
My first few days in Korea I had the delusion that I could rise above culture shock. After all, ”shock” means surprise. After my time in Eastern Europe, I thought I couldn’t be surprised that things work differently in Korea than in the States or Ukraine and Moldova.
Culture shock, though, isn’t always about surprises. It can also be about irritation with things that are different. In my case, I had a culture-shock reaction to throwing out trash. It should be a simple thing, but it’s not here and that caused irritation. The reasons for Korea’s complicated trash system are probably logical and even ecologically sound and I know this intellectually. That’s what my emotional reaction was a sign of culture shock.
First, I found out that I had to buy special pink plastic trash bags that are neighborhood-specific. A packet of 10 bags costs almost 4 dollars, more than double what it would cost in the States. This is because by purchasing the bag I’m also paying the garbage collection fee. Apparently what does NOT go in these bags (because I see separate compartments around the trash dumpster) is cardboard, newspaper, plastic bottles, cans, and food. I’m surprised I have anything left to put in the pink bags.
There’s a company cafeteria where I eat a free meal each day. In other places I’ve lived, I could put my food on a tray, eat the food, put the tray on a rack or conveyor belt after finishing, and leave. Here at Samsung, it’s a process. First, I have to gather any leftover food scraps into my soup bowl. Next, I take my metal water cup back to the area I got it from and drop it down a chute that’s just the right size for the cups. Then I take my tray across the room. I put my napkin in the trash, my chopsticks down one chute, my spoon down another, the plastic dessert cup in a separate stack, and finally I put the tray on the conveyor belt.
Even at McDonalds, the one place I can usually count on when I want a touch of home, I can’t escape the trash laws. There isn’t a plain trash can with “kamsa hamnida” (thank you) written on it. There’s a trash station with separate places for cups and so on. My first time there I couldn’t figure it out and ended up leaving the whole tray at the station. I figured it was better to let someone else do it right than to do it wrong and destroy the environment in the process. Later someone explained that I’m supposed to dump the ice down a small chute, and put the cup in the cup holder. The straw and plastic lid goes in a third compartment, and everything else goes in the main trash can. I still can’t figure out why it’s done that way, but I suppose that’s the price I pay for succumbing to a Big Mac Attack.