Hello, I’m in the middle of writing my university graduation paper and I want to make a questionnaire about recycling etc. However, I want to use examples and overall information about how this process looks like in Japanese households. I would really appreciate if someone could describe to me what it looks like in more specific ways. For example:
How many garbage cans do Japanese people usually have at home? What are the types? What does the process of segregation look like? What I mean by that – I believe I heard that, for example, if you eat a yogurt, you should wash it before throwing it away or when it comes to plastic bottles I think they bottle itself is one type of waste, the nametag is the other and the cap is also other one? (or maybe you just need to seperate them before throwing it in the same can?)
Similar story with old paper magazines – from what I remember that someone told me is that you need to make them in a square pile and then use a specific rope to tie it and only then you can throw it?
Those are the first questions I have in mind, maybe once I read some replies I can go deeper.
Also, if someone has some good website (even Japanese) where there is a lot of information, it would be a big help.
Thank you for any help!
4 comments
Hey, I lived in Nagasaki for a year. My apartment only had 1 trash can and people were very serious about recycling there. You are expected to recycle absolutely everything possible. You have to clean the trash thoroughly first and then separate everything based on the type and labeling. The municipal gives you specific bags for each type- a bag for glass, a bag for aluminum, a bad for plastic, a twine for tying paper and boxes, etc. All water bottles needed to have their lids and rings removed because they are a different color and plastic from the bottle. Yes, it was time consuming and I had to take out the recycling often so it didn’t take up a lot of space in my kitchen. When you take it out, the trash goes into a dumpster and the recycling in my neighborhood went into a giant caged area. You tosses the recycling the same pile as other people (glass with glass, paper with paper) and once a week the town comes and takes it away. You can get fined for not sorting or throwing away recycling though it’s hard to enforce because they don’t know exactly who the trash comes from.
I’m an 80s baby born to Japanese parents, raised overseas but spent all summers in Japan and lived there in my teens- recycling/trash is no joke over there but everyone follows the rules and regulations/has the mentality of ‘for the greater good’. I just remember my mother always saying ‘today is not ‘nama gomi’ day (‘raw trash’), making sure plastic we throw out has been washed/rinsed out, etc etc. I have never seen a rat in Japan, no lie, complete opposite of NYC where I live now where the rats are out of control ðŸ«
Also important to note that different prefectures and cities will have different rules. What’s considered burnable garbage in Tokyo might not be in Yokohama.
Some places are a lot stricter than others. Tokyo, at least where I lived, was not fussy about the lids and rings on the plastic bottles like WanderingSondering mentioned. Also we didn’t have specific bags for trash, any clear/translucent bag was allowed.
Japan doesn’t recycle so much as it burns its garbage for electricity. It’s very unusual compared to other countries.