Recycling marks
Most packaging in Korea carries a small mark with Korean text. It tells you which recycling group it belongs to. Here is what each one means.
Clear water and drink bottles. Empty, label off, crush, cap on — into the clear PET bag or bin. (Older packs say 페트.) Recycling guide →
Plastic containers. The code under it — HDPE, LDPE, PP, PS — is the type of plastic; sort by it if your building asks. Recycling guide →
Bags, wrappers and film. Empty, rinse off food, collect together. Recycling guide →
Steel cans. Empty, rinse, crush. Recycling guide →
Aluminium cans. Empty, rinse, crush. Recycling guide →
Glass bottles. Empty, rinse, remove the cap. Recycling guide →
Paper and boxes. Keep dry, remove tape. Recycling guide →
Ordinary paper cartons, such as fresh milk. Rinse, open flat, dry. Recycling guide →
Cartons with a foil layer, such as long-life milk and juice. Rinse and dry; your building may collect them separately from ordinary cartons. Recycling guide →
Materials stuck together that you cannot separate by hand. This mark means: general waste bag, not recycling. General waste →
Drawings are simplified. Real marks are arrows in a triangle-like shape with the Korean word inside.
For products made from January 1, 2022, the marks were updated: paper cartons are marked either 일반팩 (ordinary carton) or 멸균팩 (long-life carton with a foil layer); the clear PET mark says 무색페트; PVC was removed from the plastic marks; and a new 도포·첩합 mark shows packaging with layers that cannot be separated — which goes in the general waste bag, not recycling. Older packaging may still show the earlier marks.
Search the item instead — look it up.