Problem overview:

     Policies and measures: Korea is attempting to reduce the amount of garbage from excessive packaging by imposing garbage collection fee upon the amount of discharge.

Background in summary:

     Reducing solid wastes, over packaging are major concerns in all countries in the region.

     Korea was facing excessive dumping of waste: The economic, biological and land waste generated by excessive and unnecessary solid wastes has reached critical proportions. The government of Korea felt that measures to control discharge of garbage is needed so that people will be more cautious before dumping.

     A garbage collection fee system has been levied to control dumping: The Volume Based Garbage Collection Fee system aims at reducing household wastes by introducing economic incentive system in waste disposal. The government levies a garbage collection fee based on the volume of garbage discharged. For example, a 20-litre bag costs 280 won. People can buy the bag in the grocery and department stores. If people use unauthorized garbage bags or dump waste illegally, they will be fined from 500,000 won to 1,000,000 won.

     Results of successful enforcement: The Republic of Korea managed to reduce its waste stream and start its industries and commerce sectors down the road to sensible packaging by charging people for the waste they produce backed up by imposing fines for non-compliance.

     The system is now applied throughout the country: This system has been introduced to 31 pilot cities, counties, and wards since 1994. Nowadays, the system is being applied throughout the Republic of Korea.

See also Japans Garbage Collection Fee

Peer Review Committee Good practice rating: (1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)
Sustainability		Efficiency
2	Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other.	2	Cost efficient.
2	Sustainable over time (not one-off)	Process
Adaptability		2	Participation of the community
2	Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?)	2	Participation of resource owners/users
3	Socio-cultural adaptability.	-	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
3	Level of development adaptability.	-	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
3	Style of government adaptability.	2	Ability to attract political interest/support
2	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	-	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:      In Korea, the waste stream has been increasing by 10% per annum over the 5 years period preceding 1991. Daily waste generation was 2.3 kg per person, which amounted to twice the volume in other developed countries. But since the system was introduced as a pilot phase in 1994 and with nationwide scope in 1995, the garbage disposal rapidly dropped by about 33%. Sustainability of the project:   Adaptability of the project to other situations:      Location adaptability: The Volume Based Garbage Collection Fee system should be easily adaptable in other countries as long as the garbage collection service reaches every area and supply of authorized garbage bags are easily available for purchase. There are still cases in developing countries where rural communities still burn or bury their own garbage because the garbage collection service does not reach that area. This might bring problems of enforcement, for instance, people complain that they are willing to comply with the fee system but they cannot because the garbage collection service does not reach their area. Process of decision making and implementation:      Policies and measures: Apart from successfully reducing the amount of garbage dumped, the Volume Based Garbage Collection Fee system also has secondary benefits, which is reducing unnecessary bags and wrappings in the groceries and the department stores and changing packaging style to more compact than ever. It also accelerates the introduction of refill products system. Cost efficiency: