For years now, I have tied my cardboard like a good Japanese person, I have strived to do my best. Strived to integrate, strived to fit in and for what? For what purpose?
I always questioned it, why? Why should I spend so much time doing something so absolutely f\*\*king pointless? Why does it matter if the cardboard is neat and tidy before being shredded to pieces and or incinerated…why?? Well today, toda I received my answer…the unthinkable happened, the horror of it was almost too much to bear… I saw the cardboard guys picking up the cardboard and I saw what they did..I SAW WHAT THEY DID DAMN IT!!!
They slit every single ribbon to pieces, and threw the cardboard into the back of the truck like an abandoned piece of trash. It was truly heartbreaking. The little ribbons were everywhere and the efforts of every elderly person in town were “undone” in an instant. It was heartbreaking.
My friend was with me, he said in all his 18 years here he’s never seen anything like it. He never knew the truth!!!
I cannot unsee it now. I cannot tell myself lies anymore that there is some little old gentlemen at the waste center, carefully unpacking each individual package, and sorting into special sized bins and it all being perfectly processed…I can’t go on with it anymore.
From this day fourth I will not tie my rubbish with a plastic, environmentally destructive ribbon. I will stack in inside another box, and that is it. That is all the effort I will go to. I refuse to play this game any longer, the hurt and shame I was subjected too almost broke me.
We’ve all been played damn it, played!!!! It was all for none!
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45 comments
I’ve never once bothered to tie cardboard
I only tie it when only for easy transport purposes. But if I dont have a lot I just put it in a big IKEA blue bag and just dump it.
When they were taking out the trash at my local McDonald’s I saw them take all the plastics and chuck them in with the burnables.
It kinda makes sense when I think about it but I still feel lied to.
We’ve all been played? I think that’s pretty assuming. I’ve been throwing away my cardboards as is 😡 from day one.
Oh dear….someone’s been out in that geedee humidity too long today. We will get through this together, I promise! 🙂
Wait until you find out what happens to all the different garbage everyone carefully washes and separates….
I always assumed the tying was to keep the cardboard street collection area somewhat organized before pick up. Whenever we’ve taken big amounts of cardboard directly to our local waste center, they just tell us to toss it in a big container they have there without any ties.
You tie it so it won’t fly away. During the recent typhoon in Osaka I saw many trash collectors running around 6 lane streets trying catch the flying trash that people didn’t tie or didn’t properly cover with a net.
I don’t know if this makes me a terrible person but I usually just tear cardboard into smaller pieces and toss it out with my burnables twice a weel lol. I never really have a lot of cardboard at once so it’s really not noticeable and I’d rather not hoard them til i have enough that people will harass me for not tying them together lol.
What’s the problem with tying up your cardboard? Between cutting up your cardboard and taking it out, tying it up takes the least effort for me.
Also I assume it’s for ease of transport (for you), taking up less space at the collection point and not being as easily blown away by the wind, having all individual pieces fly around.
My Japanese boyfriend just stuffs it in another box and wraps a single piece of clear tape around it. Never tied it again after seeing that.
When reality hits!!! 😂
Hahahah! You have seen behind the cardboard curtain!
I think they suggest tying it up so it doesn’t blow around easily on a windy day but, as with most things, perhaps you just gotta judge for yourself.
If it’s windy and there is no easy way to weight it down then maybe shibari. If it’s not windy then throw caution to the wind… oh wait
It’s a status statement for the uninitiated. The peasants stuff boxes within a box, the middle class will tie with polyester twine and the affluent ones have discovered how to fashion a sheet of newspaper in to a sturdy rope for tying.
Villain Origins
Imagine until you find out that not even japanese people separate the garbage like foreigners think they do and most of the time everything goes to 燃えるゴミ regardless.
It’s just to keep it organized at the pickup spot. Which tying up does help with.
I hope you never see the “BOTTLE DAY” truck…
By asking people to tie cardboard they’re making you use up time. By using up your time they’re reducing the opportunity you have to question “the system” and a whole host of other things. Dont ask why, just do.
I usually use duct tape and just tape the edges to hold it all in place.
Hahaha! This post is pure gold.
This is a top notch J-Life post. This is the kind of content I keep coming back for. Thanks OP!
I tie it just so I can carry it much easier. If its only 1 or 2 I wont even bother and just throw it away.
In my town we have to use paper rope to tie the cardboard. Thought everyone did.
If I had an award to give you for this post, I would. So here’s an emoji 🥇
I’ve to tie it with paper string? You saying they cut the fucking paper string off?!?!
You tie it with plastic? Kinds defeats the purpose doesn’t it? I tie it with paper rope. And the purpose is to keep it all from flying away in the wind.
But I mean, a cardboard box with everything in it is more than enough effort imo.
Groupthink is a helluva drug.
It is basically just easier way for the worker to collect and preventing that place become totally messy.
Putting into box is prohibited because that is inconvenient for workers (look up your local rules that probably differ by location)
I often do putting those cardboards to one box ignoring the rule becauseＩdon’t care if it is a bit inconvenient for workers tbh.
Personally I always cut boxes into flat squares, keep one of the easy-to-tear-apart box whole, and stack everything inside. It’s already 100 times better than what the average person in my condo does anyway.
Just moved back to Japan here, bought a ton of stuff online to furnish the place.
I honestly think Amazon would make a fortune if they charged just a little bit to handle the cardboard. I would pay for cardboard removal service in a heartbeat. My city does cardboard once a month, and I’ve been a good gaijin and cut/tied my cardboard.
I would be so pissed if I saw what you saw.
I don’t tie it up. I collect it in a big box, and take it to Aeon when I am going anyway.
You even get paid if you set up a waon card (the most we got was like ¥16 so we no longer bother with it, but it’s convenient, you don’t have to worry about a specific day, or upsetting annoying neighbors
What a relief, I will not feel bad for not tying cardboard trash from now on.
All the public trash can that has two holes (combustible and non-combustible) just go into the same bag.
Take a video next time and publish it online.
When I get a big box at home (tv box, bass box ect…) I fell it up for like 3 months and just drag it to the garbage room. The plastic ribbons are dumb as hell eh!
The thing that gets me is when you are supposed to set out trash. My wife INSISTS that if it says Wednesday by 8:30am then it has to be Wednesday morning. I don’t see why you can’t put stuff out Tuesday night. Indeed, I see other people do it. Friday was plastics day and I set it out at 4am. THAT’S ok, but at midnight isn’t? C’mon.
I understand if there are two consecutive pickup days and you put stuff out for day 2 before day 1 stuff gets picked up, but otherwise what’s the problem? I can’t find an official stance on this.
I tie my cardboard boxes using a specialized biodegradable string, lol
First time? /s
What sucks is the one time in my old neighborhood I didn’t tie it, I was descended upon by angry obaachans who basically made me take it back home. There’s a reason I moved.
I just put my boxes in a slightly larger box, and my city takes it no problem
I’m not gonna lie… After reading the first two paragraphs I was both so captured and scared by the story that I pulled my blanket up, and turned the lights on. It reminded me of when I was a kid reading horror stories in my bed under the blanket with just a torch on after my parents kissed me goodnight and “sleep or the bed monster will come visit you”.
It would fall over the street if not. I put it out untied sometimes but tuck it behind the lamppost
You do it because everyone does it. You don’t question why you do it. You just do it. This is the Japanese way.
I’ve always just stuffed my boxes into a larger box. Haven’t tied them up in years..