Trash and Recycling in My Area of Japan
Trash in Japan is rather complicated, in my opinion. It's all for good reason, but still it is not easy. Ordinary, household trash must be put into these special plastic bags that you buy at the grocery store. They are very sturdy, but they aren't ordinary plastic. I think they must break down quickly or something like that. You are not allowed to put pet bottles, cans, glass, or many other things in these bags. I'm sure I don't know all the rules. If the trash collectors see something not allowed, they don't take the bag. They put a big stitcker on it saying what is not allowed and leave it on the side of the street. I suppose the violator collects it, but I've only seen the bag left behind with the sticker, never someone getting their trash back.
On Monday and Thursday mornings, these trash bags are put out at designated areas for pick up. I think my area is the first on the trash truck route because it must be out by 8:30 am or it's too late.
Normally I take my trash bag out on Monday mornings. This past Monday I forgot until after 8:30, so when I looked out, it was too late. I thought I would take it out Thursday morning, but there was a big thunderstorm. I didn't want to get hit by lightning or even just drenched, so I missed the trash again. I really need to get it out this Monday!
Some things I have to take to the grocery store collection site. Milk comes in one liter cartons. These cartons must be washed and cut open flat. Styrofoam trays that fish or other things are sold on must be washed and returned, as well as plastic containers and such.
Cardboard boxes, newspaper, books, and other paper type things are taken to these sites that are available 24 hours a day. There are two not far from where I live, so no matter which direction I am going, I can easily drop these things off.
From time to time, my neighborhood holds early morning pick ups for newspapers and clothes and many odd items. Sometimes there are bicycles and rice cookers and metal junk things. I've never taken anything to these collections, but since it is behind where I live, I can see from my window.
Once a month, at night, there is a collection for pet bottles, food cans, drink cans, and all types of glass. It's always at the beginning of the month, but not on the same day of the week or the same date of the month. I just have to look out my window and pay attention to when to take those things out. I don't have much of it so if I miss it or if it is raining, I can wait until the next month. If you want to get rid of something big, you have to call the city to come pick it up. I've never had to do that, but sometime I see things sitting outside someone's house, waiting to be picked up.
What is the trash situation where you live?
7 comments:
Trash is such a big problem all over the world isn't it? Japan sounds pretty organized about recycling and trash and I like that you have handy options to take certain things like books and magazines. Trash in my California town is picked up once a week in 3 bins: garbage, glass & paper & plastic & metal cans in one bin, and the third bin for yard waste (weeds, pruned branches, etc.). They added a fourth small bin for food waste which will be made in to animal feed.
Your rules are rather similar to ours in Tokyo. The special bags are supposed to contain a lot of calcium to help burn the (usually very) wet household garbage.
In selected areas of Sweden, there is a daily collection of food vegetable peels, coffee grinds and food scraps. You put the waste in a brown paper bag and toss it in a container in the street. The collected bags are then used to make biofuel on which a lot of buses are run. I wish we had this system in Tokyo as there is no space for a container for compost, and no use for the soil you get from that compost.
In Japan, there are difference depending on the region, but garbage separation may be detailed for recycling.
Also, It seems that sorting is different depending on the type of incinerator in the area.
Japanese condominium apartments have a garbage station on the premises, and you can throw away your garbage 24 hour a day, 365 days a year.
Of course, it is necessary to separate garbage.
For non-burnable garbage, you need to call the city and ask them to collect it.
Still, I think it's convenience to be able to throw away garbage, cans and bottles every day.
I have a plastic bottle recycling machine at my neighborhood supermarket, so I'll take it with me. This is because recycling points accumulate on supermarket cards.
Living out in the country we get rubbish collected every two weeks. There is one bin for general rubbish and one for recyclable plastic and paper products. Some recyclables have to be taken elsewhere - glass bottles for instance we drop off at a place about 12km away. We compost all food waste, so it wouldn't matter if our general waste bin was only emptied once a month - it never has much in it.
When i lived in Japan (20 years ago) the city had a colour coded rubbish calendar for each area to show collection days. It even came in English! It was fantastic as i could see at a glance by burnable vs non-burnable days, plastics (2 kinds) and paper. Batteries twice a year! I did experience what happens when the rubbish is rejected. Someone sneakily put an oil lamp in my blocks burnable rubbish, and then did not collect the rejected item. After a few days the clock rubbish monitor knocked on my door to tell me i had to take “my” rubbish back. It wasn’t mine. I used my beginner Japanese and she seemed to accept this- (possibly thought i was a terrible foreigner) and I didn’t have to hold on to it.
I was pretty angry that someone would try that, as i was the only foreigner on the block. If had rubbish qualms (or missed a day) i would walk to my local supermarket centre that had outside rubbish bins and use those (as did the Japanese housewives in the area). I didn’t realise how good the city was for rubbish info until i moved to another area
We have three bins, general rubbish, recycled and green waste. Our collection is once a week on a Monday morning, so the bins go out Sunday evening. The recycle bin and green waste go alternate weeks not once a week. We also have compost bins and a worm farm for food scraps. We can get a hard waste collection twice a year, you have to ring the council and book it in. People here often leave things they don't want on the street, sometimes others come along and tale them.
Where I live, there are four kinds of trash collected at home - paper/cartonage, recycling/plastic, bio-degenerable materials and general waste. They are all picked up either weekly or bi-weekly. Bottles (plastic and glass, expect for wine and vinegar) you return to the store - you pay a couple cents of safety deposit when buying drinks and such, and you get that money back upon returning the bottles. For the other kinds of glass, there are containers around that you bring them too. Containers to collect empty batteries are in certain stores. Branches cut from your garden and big items like furniture are collected at certain dates throughout the year, and there's also a place where you can bring almost anything you need to get rid of (although you need for them to take some of them).
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