Garbage

Garbage is a big deal in Japan. In a country where all habitable space is, well, habitated, and the cities are so crowded that a rented bed is sometimes nothing more than a tube in a wall, where to put the garbage produced by millions of people is an exact science.

Here in the city limits of Yokohama, trash is picked up Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays (sometimes twice). Wow, you say, that's awesome. You can just throw your trash out any old time and the city will come haul it away.  If only it were that easy my friends. If only it were that easy.

Let me break it down for you with a picture:



The silver can on top is for burnables (food scraps, soiled paper, and the like). It goes out on Mondays and Fridays. I've actually had to replace that bin with a slightly larger one.

The white drawer on top is for paper... but it's not as simple as "put the paper in the bin." This is for flyers, posters, that kind of thing. Larger amounts of printed paper (like if you printed out your life story at Kinko's and decided it belonged in the trash (the story not your life)), would be neatly tied and set in the garbage area. Likewise newspapers belong tied in their own bundle. Any soiled papers (like greasy paper towels) go in the burnables.

The next drawer down is for plastics... but it's not as simple as "put the plastic in the bin." This is for any plastic other than PET bottles (number 1 plastics).  Also styrofoam goes here. BUT, any soiled plastic or any soiled styrofoam goes in the burnables.

The next drawer is for PET bottles, aluminum and tin cans. Thank God that one is easy. Oh, except please flatten the plastic PET bottles, but not aluminum soda cans because you know, they wouldn't want to make any more work for you. Also, take the labels off the cans and bottles before you put them in here. Most Japanese bottles of water and green tea and stuff have perforations on their labels that I can only assume is meant to make it easier to separate the two types of garbage. Oh, and also, the plastic caps that go on top of the plastic bottles? They don't go in this bin. They go in the other plastic bin. Yeah, forget what I said about this being easy.

Cardboard is its own entity as well. Alas, it is currently bin-less. Any cardboard is to be flattened and tied neatly with string. Unless, it is soiled (like an ice cream carton) then it goes in the burnables. Also, if the cardboard is lined with foil or some other non-cardboard substance, it goes in the burnables. Cardboard only comes over other week.

Are you getting a picture here?

It's like a Mensa test every time you want to throw something away. Some things are second nature, like water bottles and papers. Some things require head scratching, like a potato chip bag. What is that thing made out of? Well, if it's aluminum coated it goes in the burnables.

Small metal objects, batteries, used cloth, glass and a handful of other things need to be separated out as well.

When we moved in the landlords gave us a three-page handout on the garbage. Three pages.  Here is a link to the city's website, where the garbage system is broken down and adorable cartoon characters abound, because it is the Japanese way: Yokohama Garbage Guidelines.

I think I've gotten a pretty good handle on which garbage goes where. The one that I always forget is to take the labels off cans before I put them in the bin. I was very proud of myself Saturday afternoon, though. I successfully succeeded in masking my American garbage as Japanese garbage. I flattened my cardboard boxes (brownie mix, a lean cuisine, a popsicle box, don't judge me my husband is deployed) and tied it ever so neatly with string. The Japanese garbage men actually took it away. Hooray!

Here is the spot at the end of our street where we take our garbage:



That is not my bag of garbage. I no longer use a trash bin that size.

 It's a simple green net, edged with metal chain link to weigh it down. All garbage goes under the net and on the concrete slab.

Something very curious I've noticed is that people don't put their garbage out the night before. Even on Friday nights, the net is empty. I mean, I still put my garbage out at night. I refuse to allow the city of Yokohama to deny me my right to sleep in until 10 on a Saturday morning. And if that doesn't make me sound American, I don't know what does.