Kwon Sunbeom, 25, and his friends have invented a garbage bin that compresses rubbish using solar power and wirelessly communicates to be collected when full.
"I saw a garbage bin overflowing with trash in the street one day and thought someone should press them down," said Kwon. "Because there was no one, I thought it should be done by a machine. And because it was located outside, I thought it can use the solar energy as a power source."
So far they have sold 31 of their "Smart Bins" to universities in Seoul and another 12 to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Talented in math and science, Sunbeom attended a specialized high school and majored in electronic engineering at a prestigious university. Lifetime employment at one of South Korea's towering conglomerates beckoned.