Throwing Away Trash in Seoul: Street Bins, Sorting at Your Rental, Takeout Cups

Seoul has few street trash bins, so carrying an empty cup or wrapper around for a while is normal. If you stay in an Airbnb or similar rental, you sort your own trash into general waste, food waste and recyclables, and general waste must go into the district's official volume-based bag (jongnyangje bongtu). Here is where you can throw things away, how to sort at your rental, where to buy the bags and what to do with a takeout cup.

1. 1

   Why there are so few street bins

   After Korea introduced its volume-based waste fee in 1995 — you pay for trash through the price of official bags — the number of street bins in Seoul fell from about 7,600 to 4,724 by 2013. Even today, a bin is often hard to find, even in tourist areas. Carrying a small bag for your trash makes this easier.

2. 2

   Where you can actually throw things away — subway stations

   Subway stations are one of the easier places to find a bin. As of 2023, 196 of the 275 stations on Lines 1–8 had a total of 691 liquid bins for pouring out leftover drinks. Placement varies by station, and Seoul Metro has said it cannot set a location rule for that reason. With a half-finished drink, pour the liquid into the liquid bin first, then throw the cup away.

3. 3

   Sorting at your rental — general, food, recyclables

   General waste goes in the volume-based bag, and recyclables must not be mixed into it. Food waste is drained, picked clean of plastic and other non-food bits, and put in a dedicated food-waste bag. Under Seoul's standard, meat and fish bones, shells of shellfish and crabs, hard fruit peels and pits, onion skins and vegetable roots, eggshells and tea bags are not food waste — they go in general waste. Paper, cans, glass, plastics and styrofoam are sorted by type, and clear PET bottles and plastic film are put out separately from other recyclables.

4. 4

   Collection days, times and fines

   Recyclables go out on set days, and the day can differ even between neighborhoods in the same district. The house manual or your host is the surest source. In Jongno-gu, putting trash out in an ordinary plastic bag instead of a volume-based bag draws a 200,000-won fine, and depending on the violation, the fine can reach 1,000,000 won. Jongno-gu announced it would hand out picture guides in Korean, English and Chinese for foreign residents at community service centers and elsewhere from 26 October 2026.

5. 5

   Where to buy volume-based bags

   They are sold at convenience stores and supermarkets near where you stay. Each district sets the price; a 20L general-waste bag in Jongno-gu costs 490 won. Check whether your rental already has bags; if not, ask for "jongnyangje bongtu" (종량제 봉투) at the counter of a nearby convenience store.

6. 6

   Takeout cups and ordering to go

   Korea's disposable cup deposit scheme started in December 2022 only in Sejong and Jeju; the nationwide rollout was dropped and left to each region. A separate charge for disposable cups was also left out of the government's anti-plastic plan announced in April 2026. A few spots, such as Yeonmujang-gil in Seongsu, have collection bins shaped like takeout cups, but they are rare. Expect to carry an empty cup to a place with a bin, such as a subway station. To order to go, say "pojanghae juseyo" (포장해 주세요); to ask whether takeout is possible, "pojang-doenayo?" (포장되나요?).