South Korea: this is how they stopped throwing food away

Each society has its own culture that allows it to harvest, eat and waste food. That is why the same recipes are not valid for the entire planet. What are worthwhile are the valuable lessons that can show us the path to follow according to the idiosyncrasies of each territory. And if there is one region that has been able to show some incredible progress regarding leftovers, it is South Korea. The country took action with spectacular results.

Until a couple of decades ago, South Korea faced food wastage problems on an alarming scale. Much of the problem stemmed from the local tradition itself, according to which most dishes are usually accompanied by a side dish. But not one or two as in other latitudes, but up to eight or ten accompaniments that mostly ended up in the landfill. The alarm, interestingly enough, was not caused by the waste itself, but by the lack of available space to continue locating dumps and by the bad odours that these caused in nearby cities.

Now, South Korea is an example to follow because, in the twenty years since the South Korean government took action, the nation has managed to recover nearly 90% of its food waste. Want to know how they did it?

· Thinking about money

The Korean solution was straightforward: if you throw away food, you are losing money. With this in mind, they implemented a system where you pay according to the weight of your food waste (which, of course, is placed in a bin specifically dedicated to this type of waste). Of course, this made more than one person think twice before throwing something away. When the system was implemented, campaigns were also launched to inform citizens about the importance of reducing waste and increasing individual responsibility.

· Managing waste efficiently

Now, what about the waste that prevention cannot stop? Here’s the solution: cities avoid landfill and, in processing plants they have built, food waste is transformed into new products: into animal feed, fertilizers or biogas that is sold to a local utility. In Goyang, a city bordering Seoul, this fuel from food waste is used to heat up to 3,000 homes.

· Designing public policies that are commensurate with the problem

Tackling the problem requires a long-term approach, combining new laws with new infrastructure and sufficient investment… but very cost-effective if you look to the future. Therefore, since 2005, in South Korea it has been illegal to dispose of food waste in landfills. This is possible because local governments have built hundreds of waste processing centres to process every ounce of food waste. Clearly, although individuals and companies pay their share to dispose of food waste, this is a multi-million-dollar investment on the part of South Korea, which has chosen a cleaner future for its citizenry.

· Involving all actors in the food chain

Government policies are essential, but the South Korean case shows that the difference is made when the entire population is involved. In the fight against food waste, each of us has a role to play. To make this case a success, the administration, consumers, restaurant owners, logistics personnel and the rest of the public had to do their bit.

Two decades have passed since South Korea initiated this plan, and the mentality of the entire country has changed. Rather than thinking “it’s not my problem”, people think “let’s do something about it”. And the benefits can be felt directly. So, why shouldn’t we start too?