Seoul City said Tuesday residents will have to pay to throw away their food waste next year.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, all residents in the capital’s 25 districts will be required to pay for the volume or weight of the food waste they throw away starting in January 2013.

Currently only residents living in homes within 18 districts follow the food trash metering system, while the rest of the capital’s residents pay a flat rate. Residents living in apartments and villas pay a fixed fee regardless of the amount of food waste disposed.

The metering system will differ from district to district, said officials with some using RFID to identify users, pre-paid traditional bags, and microchips embedded in waste buckets.

City officials believe that switching to the food waste metering system will reduce food waste by as much as 670 tons a day saving some 19.5 billion won ($17 million) a year.

Officials will also implement a trial program to install food waste dehydrators and decomposers in homes and apartment complexes to reduce the amount of waste collected. Food waste dehydrators are used to remove moisture from organic material to create fertilizer or compost, which can reportedly reduce the volume of waste by as much as 80 percent.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)