Friday, August 29--Trash Talkin'

The other day someone told me the reason they moved out of their house and back to the base was because of the trash. What? What about the trash? Now I know…

The Japanese are very concerned about the environment and conservation, partly because their country is a small series of islands, and they realize resources are limited. As a result, they have implemented measures to protect the environment, reduce pollution, and conserve resources. Hence, the trash. We knew from our trip to Tokyo last summer that trash was sorted—at McDonald’s your drink cup went in one can and the lid and straw went in another. At the zoo, there were several different garbage cans, although I couldn’t read them. Okay, not entirely true—several said PET, and I thought it was extremely strange they would have so many cans for dog poo, when pets weren’t allowed in the zoo. Turns out PET is a specific type of recyclable plastic (water bottles—they have a little 1 in the triangle on the bottom). Duh.

That is only the tip of the iceberg. Our housing agent gave us an eight-page packet of directions for the trash. Oh crap. Trash must be sorted into five different categories for pick-up during the week—burnable, non-burnable, PET bottles, other plastics, and bottles/cans. Each type of trash must be placed in a clear plastic bag and carried on its assigned day to the garbage station at the end of the street. If your trash is not sorted appropriately, the trash men will slap a huge yellow sticker on your bag and leave it at the pickup station (it could be worse…in neighborhoods where they pick up garbage at the curb, they will carry the offending bag with its yellow sticker right to your door and leave it for all the neighbors to see). If your bag is stickered, you must take it home, open it up, figure out what you did wrong, and resort it. Ahhh, the pressure! Not to mention the valuable floor space in my kitchen is being overrun with trash bags/cans!

But wait. We aren’t done sorting yet. There are six different categories for pickup on Saturday! Newspapers, magazines, cardboard boxes, drink cartons, mixed papers, and clothing/rugs. These items must be bundled and left in specific spots on your driveway for pickup.

What about bulky waste? Items more than 30 cm in length cannot be put out with the regular trash. You must call the Environment Clean Center to arrange a date, time, and location for pickup, then go to a convenience store to purchase a Bulky Waste Collection Sticker, write your name clearly on the sticker, affix it to the front of the waste, and put the waste out on the prearranged date. Each item must have its own sticker, and has its own fee for collection (rice cooker ¥250, Buddhist altar ¥750).

I won’t even get into hazardous waste (batteries, paint, cleaners) or old appliances, TVs, and computers… I plan to ship all of that back to the States when our tour is up and get rid of it there!