Food waste being processed at Dobong-gu Waste Disposal Facility in Dobong-gu, Seoul. — ©2023 The New York Times Company
AROUND the world, most of the 1.4 billion tons of food thrown away each year goes to landfills. As it rots, it pollutes water and soil and releases huge amounts of methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases.
But not in South Korea, which banned food scraps from its landfills almost 20 years ago. There, the vast majority of it gets turned into animal feed, fertiliser and fuel for heating homes.
