You may or may not have heard, but Japan sorts its trash. And not just recyclebles and non-recyclebles, but more thorough than that. I believe the specificity of categories also depends on the region and city!
When I moved to my town, I was given a booklet specifically on how to sort trash and a sort of cheat sheet on what goes where in alphabetical order. It’s mostly comprehensive, but some things I want to throw away aren’t in there, so I either asked around or used my best judgement. For those that can’t read Japanese, there’s a few English guides out there, so I double check with those, but again, sometimes it might change depending on the city! For example, one time I got a pamphlet in a plastic sheet in the mail, and on the bottom it literally said for one town the sheet goes in plastics, and in another, it goes in combustibles. Generally, items will be marked and tell you what category they should go in, so most of the time you don’t have to worry about what goes where.
Back home, because general trash went into one big bin, we just threw it into one giant plastic trash bag one trash can, and took out the trash whenever it got full out into the collective waste bin. Then the trash truck would come on a scheduled day of the week. Here, because trash is sorted meticulously, I have multiple small bins per category of trash in my place. Each trash type also has a specific trash bag the city wants you to use. Specific colors will vary per city, but for me, plastics go into a transparent bag, combustibles go into a specific city branded yellow bag, and non-combustibles go into a blue version of it.
Additionally, you can’t take out the trash whenever you want. Because stuff is sorted, there’s also a specific day per type of trash. In my case, combustibles are every Monday and Thursday, non-combustibles are every Wednesday, plastics are every Friday, cans and bottles are every first and third Tuesday, and cardboard and paper are every first and third Friday. You really have to time your trash taking-out right, otherwise you’ll have to wait to take them out until the next time. On trash day, you put your trash in a kind of cage outside the house or complex the morning of, or the evening before.
Oh, and your trash can be rejected by the trash people! If there’s something wrong with your trash for some reason, the trash collectors will mark it with the reason, and it’s up to you to claim responsibility and fix whatever happened.
Here are the main categories:
- Plastics or プラ
- Includes most everyday plastic packaging, such as styrofoam, plastic wrapping, food containers, egg cartons, packaged bottles, bottle caps, and bags. For things that contained food stuffs or liquids, you need to wash and clean them before putting them in the trash. If you really can’t wash it off, then it’ll probably go into the combustible bag, Most things that you typically buy at a store will be marked with a square-ish pura mark. For whatever reason, the plastic trash goes in one big net in the trash cage.
- Bottles and Cans (Pet, Glass, Aluminum, Steel)
- PET bottles are the everyday plastic bottles you use, and these are specifically in their own category, with their own giant net in the trash cage. Make sure to take off the labels and caps and throw them in the plastics trash. Items made from glass have their own bin, but glass bottle caps go in non-combustibles. Then aluminum and steel cans are further separated into their own bins in the trash cage. Again, make sure to thoroughly rinse and wash everything. If there’s any sketchy looking bottles, such as broken ones or with food stains, they go in non-combustible.
- Thick Mass Paper goods (Newspapers, Books)
- Line and stack them up, and tie them with a rope/cord, and throw them out in a stack in the trash cage.
- Cardboard and Paper Boxes
- Flatten all carboard boxes, and take off stamps and tape if possible. For cartons that hold juice or milk, wash and dry them, cut them open to flatten. Tie them up with a string. However, this only applies to cartons that are white inside. If the inside of a carton has silver or aluminum lining, throw that out in combustibles.
- Combustibles/Burnables 燃えるゴミ
- Any living waste, be it from animal products, or plant products, or your own hair. Along those lines, plants and wooden products are in this category. Most kitchen waste would go here, and make sure to dry them as best as you can and get rid of the water. Small paper and cloth scraps go here, so if it’s something small and there’s a small paper marking, I’d put it here. For people that have a period, menstrual products can be put in a separate plastic bag, often black, and into the combustible bag. Anything made of rubber would also go here. In some cases, plastics with no plastic mark would also go here, but double check.
- Non-combustibles 燃えないゴミ
- Small glass, ceramic, or metal scraps go in here, as well as small appliances, Other goods include toys, water kettles, and frying pans.
- Other goods
- Giant devices or appliances would need to be handled by calling the trash center or town hall and arranged to be picked up for a fee.
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