Gyeonggi Province to Promote Multilingual Labeling on Pay-As-You-Go Trash Bags to Prevent Illegal Dumping by Foreigners

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 9th that it is promoting a plan to add foreign language labels such as English and Chinese to all pay-as-you-go trash bags currently in use by the province to prevent illegal waste disposal by foreigners and inform them of the correct methods for disposing of recyclable waste.

According to the province, eight cities currently displaying foreign languages on pay-as-you-go trash bags are Suwon, Bucheon, Hwaseong, Ansan, Pyeongtaek, Gwangmyeong, Gunpo, and Dongducheon. As the number of foreign residents increases and cases of parallel foreign language labeling in various guide materials are increasing, the province plans to expand this practice to pay-as-you-go trash bags.

As a preliminary step in September, the province created multilingual labeling guidelines by translating pay-as-you-go trash bag names and disposal methods into English and Chinese, distributed them to 31 cities and counties, and investigated and shared current trash bag designs and best practices by city and county to encourage participation from cities and counties that have not yet adopted the practice.

Following the preliminary step, 17 cities and counties (Goyang, Yongin, Seongnam, Namyangju, Siheung, Paju, Uijeongbu, Gimpo, Gwangju, Osan, Yangju, Icheon, Guri, Anseong, Gapyeong, Gwacheon, and Yeoncheon) agreed to additionally participate.

Suwon City has added Vietnamese to the English and Chinese parallel labeling already in place and plans to insert pictographs for easy recognition. Gimpo City plans to add English labeling and insert QR codes.

Additionally, Siheung City and Paju City are in the process of amending ordinances to promote this initiative, and Anseong City (adding English, Chinese, and Russian) and others are also participating.

The production of pay-as-you-go trash bags is regulated by ordinances of each city and county in accordance with the "Guidelines for Implementation of Waste Disposal Charges on a Pay-As-You-Go Basis," so the adoption date, trash bag names, and other details may vary depending on the timing of ordinance amendments.

Lim Yang-seon, Director of the Resource Circulation Division at Gyeonggi Province, said, "We will make continuous efforts to inform foreigners of the correct methods for disposing of waste so that positive results such as separate collection of recyclables and waste reduction can be achieved."