Garbage bag theft witnessed amid growing supply shortage of naphtha
A woman was recently filmed stealing not valuables, but a garbage bag from a disposal area in Seoul, indicating some South Koreans' panic over the anticipated shortage of petroleum-related materials.
Local broadcaster JTBC aired surveillance footage Saturday of an unidentified woman who entered a garbage disposal area in a multiresidential complex in Seoul on Thursday. In the video, she picked up a trash bag full of garbage, untied it, dumped the contents on the floor and left with the bag.
The person who sent the video said they decided not to report the incident to the authorities, but vowed to take legal action if such an incident happens again.
Korea's Waste Control Act states that nonrecyclable materials must be disposed of in designated waste bags sold in each resident's district; disposal workers will not pick up waste in a regular plastic bag.
The war in the Middle East, particularly the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has disrupted the supply chain for naphtha, a liquid commonly produced from the refining of crude oil and natural gas. The expected shortage has led Korean consumers to stock up on trash bags, and even some merchants are offering bags as a giveaway for a bundle of their products.
The Korean government recently imposed restrictions on naphtha exports to maintain a sufficient local supply.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
