1001 Smart Cities
🇰🇷 Seoul

Weight-Based Food Waste Fee (RFID Smart Bins)

🤖 AI-generated summary of the sources below · 🔎 Last verified · ◆ 8 sourced claims, none individually verified yet

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page

✎ Corrected 27 Aug 2026 Publication date recorded for 4 sources. What changed →

Since 2013 Seoul charges for food waste by weight: at RFID-tagged bins in apartment blocks, residents tap an ID card, the bin weighs each deposit and bills per kilogram, replacing a flat charge folded into building fees. The design targets free-riding - under the shared charge a household that threw away less still paid the same.

Live 📅 since 2013
Outcome🎯 Succeeded
Evidence🔬 Peer-reviewed
what does this mean?The strongest source behind this entry is an independent peer-reviewed or academic study. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run bySeoul Metropolitan Government
Scale🏙️ City-wide

📊 Impact

A peer-reviewed natural experiment in Mapo-gu compared 12 apartment complexes that switched to RFID weight charging in January 2016 with 61 that kept the shared building charge, and found the weight system reduced significantly more food waste. Seoul's own policy platform reports that the switch from volume to weight cut food waste by 10 to 30%, citing a 2013 study.

🎓 Lesson

The bin is not the intervention; the bill is. Under the shared charge every household paid the same divided total, so throwing away less saved a household nothing; weighing at the bin makes each household's own waste its own cost, and the study names reduced free-riding as the mechanism. The limit is cost, not principle - the weighing system is installed only in some apartment complexes, while detached houses and restaurants use standard bags or chipped containers.

🌱 EnvironmentWaste & recyclingSensors & IoTCircular economy

Sources

↗ Lee & Jung 2017, Sustainability - natural experiment on RFID weight charging (peer-reviewed)Published 8 November 2017Difference-in-differences comparison of 12 Seoul apartment complexes that adopted RFID weight charging against 61 that did not, published 8 November 2017.
↗ Seoul Solution - Pay-as-you-throw system of Seoul (authority)Published 13 January 2017 · updated 12 June 2018The city's own policy account of the fee system: the reported reduction from the volume-to-weight switch, and which households the weighing system actually covers.
↗ Korea Environment Corporation (KECO) - RFID-Based Food Waste Management SystemThe national agency's description of how the RFID weighing system works. A standing programme page with no publication date.
↗ Lee et al. 2024, Sustainability - food waste recycling in South Korea (peer-reviewed review)Published 19 January 2024Review of South Korea's food waste recycling regime, for context on the national mandate the Seoul scheme sits inside. Publication date from Crossref.

📅 How old is the evidence?

Two clocks, kept apart: when this entry’s sources were published, and what has happened to its record in the atlas. Documented span: since 2013. 3 of 4 sources carry a publication date, from 13 January 2017 to 19 January 2024.

When the sources were published

  1. Seoul Metropolitan Government · city governmentSeoul Solution - Pay-as-you-throw system of Seoul (authority) · updated 12 June 2018
  2. MDPI · researchLee & Jung 2017, Sustainability - natural experiment on RFID weight charging (peer-reviewed)
  3. MDPI · researchLee et al. 2024, Sustainability - food waste recycling in South Korea (peer-reviewed review)

Every source, with links ↑

What happened to this record

  1. Entered the record
  2. Sources last read
  3. Publication date recorded for 4 sources

Every revision, permanent →

Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 8 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence Passport · public beta 8 addressable claims, 4 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The passport is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.

Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 8

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-d80b9ea4cea4dd9e descriptive
at RFID-tagged bins in apartment blocks, residents tap an ID card, the bin weighs each deposit and bills per kilogram
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Seoul's policy platform: 'The RFID-based weighing system imposes disposal fees according to weight ... the amount of food waste is recorded by each individual when it is discarded, and households are charged monthly fees accordingly', and describes the system as combining weighing devices with a discarder recognition system.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Seoul Solution - Pay-as-you-throw system of Seoul (authority)
  2. Korea Environment Corporation (KECO) - RFID-Based Food Waste Management System
Claim 2 clm-50ffed5eb5943309 descriptive
replacing a flat charge folded into building fees
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Seoul's account of the predecessor: before pay-as-you-throw, 'the fees for waste disposal in Seoul had been collected as a kind of tax based on building areas or property taxes, which had nothing to do with the amount of waste produced'.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Seoul Solution - Pay-as-you-throw system of Seoul (authority)
Claim 3 clm-1b317a469902cbb6 descriptive
under the shared charge a household that threw away less still paid the same
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The study describes the predecessor design directly: 'the CWC uses a group incentive system where residents pay the same price by dividing total amount of waste charge by total number of household in apartment complex'.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Lee & Jung 2017, Sustainability - natural experiment on RFID weight charging (peer-reviewed)
Claim 4 clm-24d56524938dfc6e quantitative
A peer-reviewed natural experiment in Mapo-gu compared 12 apartment complexes that switched to RFID weight charging in January 2016 with 61 that kept the shared building charge
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Verbatim from the abstract: 'comparing the amount of food waste disposal between 12 apartment complexes with the RHWC policy (treatment group) and 61 apartment complexes (control group) without the policy ... in January 2016, the 12 apartment complexes introduced the RHWC policy, while the other 61 apartment complexes kept the CWC policy.'
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Lee & Jung 2017, Sustainability - natural experiment on RFID weight charging (peer-reviewed)
Claim 5 clm-97c248ec2bff53e6 descriptive
found the weight system reduced significantly more food waste
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Verbatim: 'relying on propensity score matching and Difference-In-Difference (PSM-DID) methodology, found a significant difference in the amount of food waste disposal between these two payment systems. Our empirical finding shows that the RHWC deign can reduce more food waste than the CWC design.'
Caveat
The abstract states significance and direction but no effect size; the entry therefore states neither.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Lee & Jung 2017, Sustainability - natural experiment on RFID weight charging (peer-reviewed)
Claim 6 clm-5bca569fe24328f0 quantitative
Seoul's own policy platform reports that the switch from volume to weight cut food waste by 10 to 30%, citing a 2013 study
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Verbatim: 'The government felt that the system should operate not on the basis of volume, but on the basis of weight because food waste is heavier than general waste. As a result of this change, it was reported that food waste was reduced by 10~30% (Korea Institute of Industrial Relations and Korea Environment Corporation, Dec. 2013).'
Caveat
A figure the city platform repeats from a 2013 study rather than one it measured itself; the range is wide and the study is not linked.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Seoul Solution - Pay-as-you-throw system of Seoul (authority)
Claim 7 clm-b68d3647a347a9af descriptive
the study names reduced free-riding as the mechanism
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Verbatim: 'municipalities can reduce food waste through redesigning incentive mechanism in which it is able to reduce free riding by electronically identifying and monitoring how much residents throw out thanks to RFID technology.'
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Lee & Jung 2017, Sustainability - natural experiment on RFID weight charging (peer-reviewed)
Claim 8 clm-61dca69d03c63716 descriptive
the weighing system is installed only in some apartment complexes, while detached houses and restaurants use standard bags or chipped containers
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Verbatim: 'the system is not used with all households, but only some apartment complexes, as system installation and operation is costly and requires space. For detached houses and restaurants, the standard bags or standard containers with identification chips are generally used.'
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Seoul Solution - Pay-as-you-throw system of Seoul (authority)
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-08-27-correction-run effective 2026-08-26 · created 2026-08-27

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:a3adab9f6fa376a3c965eb10079f7e5d38b1f02560259ce4405f743476e88f33
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
8
of 8 claims mapped
4
source dossiers
3
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
Seoul Metropolitan Government
Actor types
city-government
Funding model
public
Funding description
Not recorded
Cost
Not recorded
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

4 source dossiers

Lee & Jung 2017, Sustainability - natural experiment on RFID weight charging (peer-reviewed) mdpi.com · 4 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-981ee3108b47efdb
Publisher
Name not classified · mdpi.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2017-11-08
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-26
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Difference-in-differences comparison of 12 Seoul apartment complexes that adopted RFID weight charging against 61 that did not, published 8 November 2017.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Seoul Solution - Pay-as-you-throw system of Seoul (authority) seoulsolution.kr · 4 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-5e6968da231b6b47
Publisher
Name not classified · seoulsolution.kr
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2017-01-13
Updated
2018-06-12
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-26
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The city's own policy account of the fee system: the reported reduction from the volume-to-weight switch, and which households the weighing system actually covers.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Korea Environment Corporation (KECO) - RFID-Based Food Waste Management System keco.or.kr · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-52f2e52acbd4f56a
Publisher
Name not classified · keco.or.kr
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-26
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The national agency's description of how the RFID weighing system works. A standing programme page with no publication date.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Lee et al. 2024, Sustainability - food waste recycling in South Korea (peer-reviewed review) mdpi.com · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-e11b4b1f3eb223a3
Publisher
Name not classified · mdpi.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2024-01-19
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-26
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Review of South Korea's food waste recycling regime, for context on the national mandate the Seoul scheme sits inside. Publication date from Crossref.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Known limits of this passport
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇰🇷 Owl Bus (Night Bus) — Big-Data Route Design · Seoul Two Seoul data projects a decade apart: Owl Bus mined call records for night buses (2013), this weighs food waste by the kilogram. 🇨🇿 Golemio Urban Waste Sensor Mesh · Prague Different levers on the same problem: Seoul prices food waste by weight, Prague just senses when bins are full. 🇸🇬 National Steps Challenge & HealthHub Digital Health · Singapore Nudging habits opposite ways: Seoul bills food waste by the kilo (2013); Singapore's Steps Challenge rewards activity with points (2015).

What does a resident get for separating their waste?

The topic guide asks where the meter sits. This asks the question from the kitchen: four cities, four completely different things offered to the person doing the sorting — and one of them is nothing at all.

ProjectSinceStatusOutcomeEvidenceRun byCostWhat the resident gets
Weight-Based Food Waste Fee (RFID Smart Bins)Seoul, 🇰🇷 2013 Live Succeeded Peer-reviewed City government not public A bill. The resident taps an ID card, the bin weighs the deposit and charges by the kilogram, replacing a flat fee folded into building charges.
Suroboyo Bus — Plastic-Bottle Fare TransitSurabaya, 🇮🇩 2018 Live Scaled back Media City government, Utility or public operator not public A bus ride — bottles for a two-hour ticket. The entry's own verdict is that the gimmick drew the attention and an ordinary cash fare kept the line running.
Buenos Aires's Registered Recuperadores Urbanos & Green CentresBuenos Aires, 🇦🇷 2002 Live Ongoing Peer-reviewed City government, Civil society not public A livelihood. After the crisis the city stopped policing its waste pickers and registered them instead, writing them into the collection service.
Optical Waste Sorting by Bag Colour (Haraldrud & Klemetsrud)Oslo, 🇳🇴 2009 Live Ongoing Official City government, Private company not public Nothing. Bag colour chosen at the kitchen counter is the whole interface, the machine sorts what arrives correctly, and the bottleneck stays upstream.

Explore the wider context

🗑️ Pipes or pennies🗑️ Waste & recycling guide🏙️ Seoul city profile🌱 Environment projects📖 Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT)📖 Pneumatic waste collection📖 Adaptive traffic signals
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Weight-Based Food Waste Fee (RFID Smart Bins)” — Seoul, South Korea. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/seoul-food-waste-payt/ (last verified 2026-08-26). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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