Sunday, February 14, 2021

Recycling in Japan

Behold my flattened milk carton. To be recycled, it must be rinsed, flattened, dried, and taken to a designated recycling center for cartons. Before moving here, I thought I would spend a good chunk of my waking hours sorting my garbage. That's how it seemed anyways. I know of only one other country - Germany - with just as many rules. In reality, though, it's not so bad. By the way - this will be a very boring post if you have no interest in recycling.

There are many and varied recycling rules in Japan, and almost everyone follows them. Each city ward sets the rules. Because we live in an apartment building, a lot of the work is done for us. Usually trash is collected twice a week and I think recycling once a week or every two weeks depending on the item, but our building empties out the bins every day. I dispose of my recycling and garbage in my floor's Recycle Station.



Garbage is combustibles/burnables and plastics (except plastic bottles). All garbage must be thrown away in a semi-transparent bag. Recyclables are separated into categories. 


Plastic bottles can be recycled but I need to strip off the plastic label, remove the cap, and crush the plastic. If it contained anything besides water, it must be rinsed. Do you see the sink? It's so you can rinse clean all containers before recycling: cans, beer cans, glass bottles, etc. Pretty convenient. 






Some things, like the milk cartons and styrofoam, can be recycled but must be taken to designated processing centers. It takes more work because you have to look up the closest location in your ward and bring it there. However, most people still do it. 

Cardboard boxes can be recycled but must be stripped of everything that is not cardboard. I stripped our moving boxes of plastic and tape and flattened them. Usually I would also have to tie the cardboard together so they remain flat, but the building does this for us. In Chicago, there have been times where I've found a massive unfolded box stuffed into our building's recycling bin, taking up the whole bin. In Japan, the bin would remain uncollected. 



Similarly, paper shopping bags, newspapers, and office paper must be flat and consolidated. Oversized garbage must be collected in a special way. I haven't done this yet, but I would have to buy a sticker for the oversized item and then arrange for it to be collected. If no sticker, it won't be collected. 

Going through these steps to recycle makes me more aware how much I'm using and producing. Despite the meticulous recycling, shops here do use a lot of plastic and packaging, especially for food. 

However, you won't find any Christmas trees tossed into the dumpster. This drove me crazy. It is one of the few items you have to specially dispose of, and you only have to do it once a year. It was a testament to Chicago's recycling culture. I also wondered how much of the recycling really got recycled. It takes time to sort through my garbage, but it is worth it if things that are meant to be recycled actually do get recycled. 







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