Take Out Food in Korea

When I first experienced take out food with some fellow teachers at my school, I thought it was odd that the delivery person brought the food in hard plastic bowls with metal cutlery. The first thing I thought to myself was that I did not want to pay extra for the metal spoon and hard plastic bowls that the food was in. However, I soon realized that the bowl and cutlery were not for garbage like it would have been in Canada. It turns out that the bowls, plates and utensils that were given to us for our meal were not for us to keep or throw away, but to be returned to the restaurant.

After a brief explanation from my colleagues, I was amazemed to learn that the delivery guy  has make two trip to one location when someone orders food. The first to deliver the food, the second to pick up the plates, bowls and cutlery. Wow! I thought to myself.   This created a lot of work for the deivery person, but also went along way to reducing waste. I heard that Korea is a green country, and I am impressed with the way they do delivery.

The delivery guy may not pick the remains up on the same day, but sometimes the day after. This morning when I was leaving my house for work, I noticed that my neighbor left their take out dishes by their door. It was too early for them to have ordered food that morning, so it must have been from the previous night. After eating a take out meal, the procedure is to leave all the dishes by the door. Someone will eventually come and pick them up.