Iran War Sparks Plastic Bag Theft Incidents in Korea, How Is That Possible?

The war in Iran, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has disrupted the naphtha supply chain, a liquid typically produced from the refining of crude oil and natural gas. This scarcity has caused consumers in South Korea to hoard rubbish bags, with some retailers even offering rubbish bags as gifts for purchasing certain products.

However, the effects of the war are suspected to have triggered incidents of plastic rubbish bag thefts in the capital, Seoul.

Quoting a report from the Korea Herald, recently, a woman was caught on camera stealing not valuables, but rubbish bags from a rubbish disposal area in Seoul. This incident demonstrates the panic among some South Korean residents over predictions of shortages in petroleum-related materials.

Local television station JTBC aired surveillance footage on Saturday showing an unidentified woman entering a rubbish disposal area in a high-rise residential complex in Seoul on Thursday local time. In the video, she takes a plastic bag full of rubbish, opens it, dumps the contents on the floor, and leaves.

The person who submitted the video said they decided not to report the incident to the authorities but promised to take legal action if similar incidents occur again.

For information, South Korea’s Waste Control Act states that non-recyclable materials must be disposed of in special rubbish bags sold in every residential district, and waste management officers will not collect rubbish in ordinary plastic bags.

In Korea itself, there has been panic buying of plastic bags. The Seoul government recorded a nearly fivefold surge in daily rubbish bag sales to around 2.7 million units. This situation has even led several major retailers to implement purchase restrictions for consumers.