The PAYT System of Korea
The more you throw away, the more you pay. This is validated legislation in Korea. The PAYT system, an acronym for "Pay As You Throw", actually helped reduce the amount of waste in Korea significantly.
Though conducted beforehand by a few states in Japan and the U.S in the 1970s, the PAYT act was first officially implemented in all states of Korea in 1995, January 1st (Donga News). However, the legislation was at first criticized. Many citizens of Korea were confused with the distinction between general waste and recyclable waste, and many fish market and grocery store owners bemoaned the discontent from spending considerable amounts of money on purchasing the PAYT garbage bags the government designated.
(Seoul.go.kr)
Fortunately, despite the skeptical perspectives towards the legislation, the PAYT system of Korea resulted in very positive outcomes. The amount of waste dropped substantially, from 1,5000 tons of household waste in 1994 to 9500 tons. Such result also led to economical effects, as about 454billion dollars were reduced (Joongang article) thanks to waste reduction and recycle.
Taiwan, benchmarking Korea's successful PAYT system, implemented the PAYT act on 2001, after requesting data from Korea's Ministry of Environment. The PAYT system was successful for Taiwan too, as waste was dramatically reduced while maximizing recycling and food waste separation. The system has significantly contributed to decreasing the landscape pollution of Taiwan. On the other hand, not all countries had succeeded in implementing the PAYT system. For instance, Hong Kong failed to legislate the PAYT system due to the bleak infrastructure and criticism against it.
The PAYT system is a meaningful act that substantially reduced pollution and waste in Korea, and due to the fact that most of the Koreans contributed to the bothersome but helpful process.
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