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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2025
Man collects 150 tonnes of garbage in 10yrs for ‘lazy’ son’s future

Offbeat

TBS Report
27 July, 2021, 12:30 pm
Last modified: 27 July, 2021, 02:57 pm

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Man collects 150 tonnes of garbage in 10yrs for ‘lazy’ son’s future

All of the house's entrances and doors are clogged with garbage, so getting in and out requires climbing the "mountain of waste" through the first-floor door

TBS Report
27 July, 2021, 12:30 pm
Last modified: 27 July, 2021, 02:57 pm
Photo/SBS TV
Photo/SBS TV

A 75-year-old South Korean father has been dumping rubbish in his home for the past decade, to secure a future for his 40-year-old son who refuses to leave home and get a job.

Choi, 75, who lives with his wife and son - who is in his forties- in Gwangju Province took up this bizarre initiative believing no one would take care of his son after he passes away, reports Newsbeezer.

All of the house's entrances and doors are clogged with garbage, so getting in and out requires climbing the "mountain of waste" through the first-floor door.

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Choi goes for daily hikes around the city streets, digging through trash to bring it home (which he thinks is useful). For example, others may think a company sign to be useless, while he finds it to be quite lovely.

Photo/SBS TV
Photo/SBS TV

 "Anything, as long as it is used correctly, is useful, and junk is just a lost treasure," he said.

Choi's house has almost no space left, and the garbage has reached the roof. Strangers enter the house, sit for a time, and cough repeatedly, as if they are out of breath.

The couple's 40-year-old son who weighs about 100 kg lives on the second floor, and hasn't left the house in over a year. He likes to spend idle time sitting in a small room all day.

Despite repeated pleas from his parents to go out and find a job, the son hasn't done anything. And this is why Choi is collecting garbage.

All three people live in his small room, the remaining rooms are used for garbage.

Photo/SBS TV
Photo/SBS TV

Every day, all three people eat rice cooked in a rice cooker, as well as meals and vegetable soup made in this pot. Some essential kitchen items and consumables are kept in the room and are always reachable but these goods, however, are also kept on top of the garbage.

Recently they learned that Ms Choi suffered a heart attack and was becoming increasingly feeble when the pair was taken for a medical examination by a charity. 

The doctor said if they can live in a regular setting with time to spare and room to roam around she will be better.

A Korean television show volunteered to clean up their grandparents' two-story home to assist this couple. Roughly 150 tons of waste was moved from the house to the yard by an excavator.

With the assistance of 226 volunteers, a total of 150 tons of waste was removed.

Photo/SBS TV
Photo/SBS TV

Ms Choi in the meantime went under surgery for her health when Mr Choi said, "My son likes to be at home all the time. He has no desire to work. We are very worried about the matter. Afraid, at any moment my wife and I would die; then there will be no one to see him. So I pick up what I find lying on the street; These may be of some use to him," said Choi.

Not only did Mr Choi but his wife repeatedly reminded their son to go to work and earn money, but he refused to simply stay home to live on his parental pension.

When the 75-year-old brought his wife home from the hospital, he burst into tears because the house was tidy and clean. 

Choi said he had never lived in such a clean and beautiful house. "For the sake of my wife's future and health, I will never pick up rubbish again."

Top News / World+Biz

man / Trash / garbage / hoarder / lazy / son

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