Seoul cartoneros

I jumped from my seat as soon as I noticed the skinny 80-year-old man falling down, but arrived a couple of seconds too late. Luckily, two gentlemen had already caught both him and his bike before they hit the macadam. Yet the four of us couldn't prevent the slomo collapse of his load ; about two cubic meters of cardboard miraculously held by a single rope, the fruit of a morning's hard work for that ancient Seoul cartonero.

The halabeoji insisted to rearrange his pile alone, and left with only a slightly bruised pride. The rest of us? Crushed by the collective shame of a society that lets its senior citizens risk their lives* to earn a dime.

These people are not even homeless, unlike that much younger can collector who used to sleep behind Seoul Station, years before they tore its walkway down, and converted its elevated road into Seoullo 7017 (again, please do watch Nils Clauss' haunting 'Sigur Ros / Varud' video - see "Happy Seoul").

If Korea's welfare system should theoretically prevent this kind of aberrations, old cartoneros remain a common sight across the city, part of the folklore. We know they proudly refuse our help, but we also know they like us to discard our pieces of cardboard a day before garbage collection, to secure their share.

'Lady cartonero at the Seosomun crossing, Seoul' (20161208 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/806793131580497920)

We're not saving their jobs, we're institutionalizing a wrongful role for them in our ecosystem. And instead of solving problems, we create new ones by maintaining an unsustainable recycling model.

Consider this: these days, street collectors have a tougher time selling their harvest because China stopped buying recycled material from Seoul. And Korea is considering stopping selective waste collection altogether because it can't process all of it itself. What was the point of investing so well in recycling pedagogy without going all the way?

But no, it made more sense having our eldest citizens risk their lives picking up our trash, and pushing it to the nearest eyesore of a collection hub; it made more sense having this pervasive, absurd logistics network feed whole ships of recycled stuff for China.

Recycling should be about reducing our carbon footprint. And sparing our grandparents' feet.


Seoul Village 2018
Welcome to our Korean Errlines! Follow Seoul Village on Facebook and Twitter

Add this page to your favorites

* I seriously wonder how many casualties actually stem from this nonsense. A couple of years ago, I helped a very old cartonera push a ridiculously massive cart up a hill... it could have crushed her otherwise, but thanks to me, it might have actually crushed someone else further afield, on the downhill side.

Happy Seoul

Back to Seoul! Let's celebrate with a new Happy video following Pharrell Williams' footsteps. This one features more walks of life (from monks to expats), more sites (from Bukchon to Mecenatpolis or the Floating Island), and far fewer product placements than a PSY video (no, the tribute to Gangnam Style doesn't count)!



YouTube-wise, this version is quickly catching up with the previous leading version, with 37,000 views since September 30, compared to 56,000 since March 14 for the 'Happy' featuring Hong Seok-cheon:



At that level too, we're not in PSY territory, but it's really great to see Seoul clap along!

#HappySeoul on Facebook: facebook.com/groups/seoulishappy

Because I'm happy to see so many faces and places represented.

I'll add a final clap to a yet older video. Also made in Seoul, also based on music. Not from the megastar Pharrell Williams, but from the Icelandic group Sigur Rós. The title, "VARÚÐ", means "caution", and the video (by Nils Clauss with Namui Park) will move you in different ways. I want you to follow this homeless living in the park behind Yongsan Station until the very end of the credits, because that's also about feeling "like a room without a roof", feeling "like happiness is the truth", knowing "what happiness is to you", feeling "that's what you wanna do":



SIGUR RÓS | VARÚÐ. music video from Nils Clauss on Vimeo.

Seoul Village 2014
Welcome to our Korean Errlines! Follow Seoul Village on Facebook and Twitter

Add this page to your favorites