Garbage and recycling rules in Seoul: what goes in the volume-based bag, food waste rules and how to dispose of bulky items
Numbers checked against the official source on 2026-10-19
In Seoul you sort household waste into recyclables, food waste, general waste in a volume-based bag (종량제봉투), and bulky items that you report and pay for. The rules are set by each of Seoul's 25 districts, which is why the same item can be handled a little differently in Mapo and Nowon. Seoul published a standard sorting guide for about 60 items (page last edited 2025-08-06), and the table below follows it. We do not print bag prices: the only official Seoul price table we found is from January 2015, so it is out of date, and bulky-item fees are set per district. Check your district office for current prices.
Read on 2026-10-19. Seoul sorting guide edited 2025-08-06; food-waste standard dated Apr. 16, 2020; bulky-waste announcement edited 2023-11-02.
What goes where
The Seoul guide's own labels: bag = 종량제봉투, sack = 특수규격마대 (special-spec sack, for items that should not go in a normal bag), bulky = 대형폐기물 (report it first).
| Item | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Ordinary cardboard box | Remove the tape and sort as paper |
| Insulated delivery box (vinyl or aluminium lining); paper cups coated on both sides, delivery slips, receipts | Bag |
| Drink and soju bottles | Rinse, then recycle |
| Broken glass | Wrap in newspaper; a small amount in the bag, a large amount in a sack |
| Heat-resistant or crystal glass, ceramics, plate glass | Sack or bulky |
| Ordinary cans | Empty, then recycle |
| Lacquer or butane cans that still hold contents | Sack (explosion risk). Butane: press the nozzle in a well-ventilated place first. |
| Aluminium foil | Bag |
| Batteries | Separate battery collection |
| Mixed-material plastic toys and stationery, hangers, toothbrushes, CDs and DVDs | Bag |
| Toys with a built-in battery | Micro-electronics collection box |
| Large plastic items (fishing rods, strollers, suitcases) | Bulky: report, then put out |
| Vinyl (snack and coffee wrappers, onion nets, bubble wrap, delivery bags) | Collect in a clear bag and recycle separately from plastic |
| Plastic wrap, tablecloths, rubber gloves, rubber hoses, banners | Bag |
| Floor mats, picnic mats, tents | Bulky |
| Clean polystyrene boxes | Remove the label and recycle |
| Food-stained polystyrene, fruit netting | Bag |
| Polystyrene building material | Bulky |
| Clean used clothes and shoes | Clothing bins, dry |
| Unrecyclable clothes, shoes, bags, pillows | Bag |
| Quilts and cushions | Bulky |
| Fluorescent tubes | Fluorescent-tube bin |
| Broken fluorescent tubes or LED lights | A small amount in the bag, a large amount in a sack |
Food waste
Seoul's food-waste standard (Apr. 16, 2020, also published in English for foreign residents) lists what must not go in the food-waste container. These belong in general waste:
- Vegetables: roots of chives and green onions, pepper seeds, skins of onions, garlic, ginger and corn, pepper and corn stalks.
- Fruit: hard shells of walnuts, chestnuts, peanuts, coconuts and pineapples; seeds of peaches, apricots and persimmons.
- Rice hulls; hair and bones of cow, pig and chicken; fish bones; shells of shellfish, crabs and lobsters; poisonous items such as pufferfish intestines.
- Egg, duck egg, quail egg and ostrich egg shells; tea and medicinal-herb grounds.
- Anything that cannot be mixed with food: gum, plastic bags, bottle caps, toothpicks, paper, foil, straws, plastic spoons, rubber gloves, metal, glass, rope, clothes.
How to dispose: fully remove water and impurities such as mud and dirt, then use the designated food-waste containers (the city names large volume-based machines and RFID volume-based machines) or designated food-waste bags. Rinse salty foods like kimchi, soybean paste and gochujang. Chop up green-onion skins and large whole vegetables such as radishes, cabbages and pumpkins, because long or large pieces can break the machines. The city says wrongly disposed objects can break the equipment and block recycling.
Bulky items: how to report and pay
- Confirm it is bulky. Items such as strollers, suitcases, floor mats, quilts and cushions are listed above; your district's website lists the rest.
- Report it to your district. Under the Waste Management Act Article 14(5), the method is set by district ordinance. Seoul's 2023 announcement says districts differ: a visit to the community center, a call to the collector, the district website or a mobile app.
- Pay the fee your district sets. Fees differ even for the same item. Seoul's examples: a piano costs KRW 15,000 in Eunpyeong for any size; in Nowon KRW 4,000 for a digital piano and KRW 15,000 for a regular one; in Gangdong KRW 10,000 digital, KRW 20,000 regular, KRW 30,000 grand. Seoul said it was preparing a fee guideline to unify them.
- Mark the item. Depending on the district you attach a printed report certificate or write the report number on the item. As of 2023-11-02, 13 districts used the certificate and 5 used a number written on the item; Seoul planned to move all districts to the number method.
- Heavy items. Seoul said four districts (Gangseo, Mapo, Guro, Seocho) already offered a mobile app that carries heavy items such as refrigerators from the home to the pickup spot, and it planned to extend this to all districts. Confirm in your district.
Volume-based bags: prices
Seoul's environment site has a menu item titled "종량제물품 판매소 위치안내" (locations of volume-based goods sellers) and a district price table, but the table's header reads "2015. 1월 현재" (as of January 2015) and the page was last edited 2015-02-17, so we do not reproduce it. Bag prices are therefore district-specific and must be confirmed with your district office or the seller.
Related living pages: renting and deposit protection, electricity rates and Seoul city gas rates. This is a summary, not an official guide. Confirm with your district office or the Seoul 120 Dasan Call Center.
Checked 2026-10-19.
Official sources
- Seoul Metropolitan Government Environment — Seoul's standard for confusing recycling items (Korean) — item-by-item sorting guide, bag vs special sack vs bulky; page last edited 2025-08-06 (checked 2026-10-19)
- Seoul Metropolitan Government (English) — Outline of Food Waste Disposal Standard in ten languages — items not to be disposed as food waste, how to dispose; standard dated Apr. 16, 2020 (checked 2026-10-19)
- Seoul Metropolitan Government Environment — Bulky waste disposal and fee improvement (Korean) — district-set reporting methods and fees, fee examples, certificate vs number method; page last edited 2023-11-02 (checked 2026-10-19)
- Seoul Metropolitan Government Environment — district volume-based bag price table (Korean) — price table headed as of January 2015, last edited 2015-02-17; read to check currency, not used for prices (checked 2026-10-19)
Prices change. If an official page shows a different number from this page, the official page wins — and please tell us so we can fix it.