Plastic waste recycling rate South Korea 2013-2022

The recycling rate of synthetic resin waste in South Korea was 57.5 percent in 2022. The plastic recycling rate has stayed between 40 percent and 50 percent over the past decade, while the average recycling rate for municipal waste in South Korea stood at over 50 percent. That year, however, the scope and name of the category was changed to synthetic resin waste, and dropped to around ten percent of recycling rate.

Plastic waste in South Korea

Over half a million tons of single-use plastic bags were estimated to have been used in South Korea in 2020 along with more than 84,000 tons of PET bottles. The government and companies have taken steps to try and reduce plastic consumption, for example, the government now charges fees for single-use plastic bags and recommends paper bags instead. Companies are creating plastic products that use less plastic, such as water bottles with slimmer caps. 

Plastic waste management and treatment

In 2021, over 60 percent of plastic waste was recycled as material or as energy. The rest were either simply incinerated or thrown into landfills. South Korea seems to have a capable waste recycling system, with citizens separating waste before throwing it out. The problem is that after citizens do their job, waste management companies must further separate plastic waste. Not all plastic waste is the same; a PET bottle is different from a plastic cup. There are even plastics composed of several different plastics. In many cases, companies simply cannot afford to properly separate plastics, and it causes that a lot of plastic waste is simply discarded.