Japanese Trash-Pt. 1

Hey, hey, Minna-san (Everyone!)

After the delay of posting, I finally got the garbage post up! PLUS, I will have a couple of event posts that I will hopefully get to this week. I have a 3-day weekend (technically 4-day for me) this week. It kicked off today (Friday) with a trip to the historical town of Nikko. I will have a post dedicated to this and the reason for the 3-day weekend. Now tomorrow and Sunday are our school festival days! I will definitely have pictures....assuming that I can find my camera charger.....But that's beside the point. So we have at least 2 event posts coming this week!!!

With that announcement aside...I have one more. I have been confronted about my lack of posting over the last couple of weeks. I think I've said this before, but...my plan with this blog is to post once a week....at least. Since I am trying to keep up in school and with work on my manga, doing multiple posts each week is not feasible. That's why my goal is once a week. Sometimes, depending on what's been going on, I might be late and I apologize in advance with that! When I have large events, I will try to post the following week when memories are the freshest. So! Don't been surprised to see only one post a week. Try checking on my posts on Weds and Suns, since these two days are most likely when I will have posted. Just wanted to make that clear....gomen nee! (sorry!)

And now! What we've all been waiting (too long) for: Japanese trash system!

Think back to the growing standard in American trash. Those in town will probably have a "greens" barrel for the gardening greens, a "recyclables" barrel, and a "general" trash barrel, which we have to drag out of our backyards or side yards each week on the designated trash day. Three barrels to fill each week, to drag out each week, all on the same week...taihen! (So difficult!). We Americans have it so hard sometimes....

But wait!

In reality, our trash system, though we typically hate doing it each week, is really easy-peasy compared to the Japanese trash system. To exemplify this, let's discuss my dorm room. It's a small one-person room with a personal toire, or toilet room. I got enough space for a small fridge, a shoe rack, a set of drawers and closet combo, my desk and my bed. Yet, I have four trash cans. Doushite!? (Why!?) Let me post the link to my ward's trash calendar. Remember, a Japanese ward is similar to a California county.

If you open up this pdf file (click the link), you will notice on the first page a fillable section saying something to the effect of "Recyclables [     day]". Above the box  that has the word 'day' in it, there will say something like "Once a day on...". One particle fillable space that I would like to point out is the "Combustable Garbage" that has two fill-in boxes. If you haven't figured it out yet, Japan has multiple trash-pick-up days. These days are trash-specific, meaning you actually do have to separate your trash before tossing it. If you don't, then you have to do the walk of shame to pick up your rejected bag of trash and try separating it correctly again for the next pick-up day....

In Japan, trash is separated into three basic categories: Combustible, PET Bottles, and Incombustible.
These terminologies differ slightly from ward to ward, prefecture to prefecture. I am currently living in a different ward than I lived in when I stayed in 2010. So I can attest to the slight differences in the trash separation. But, the listed categories are the most recognized types of trash throughout Japan.

Combustible trash is any food leftovers or paper products. Don't freak out just yet. Japan is kind enough to include the trash type on the labels of products. Combustible trash is often designated by this recycle sign . Inside the recycling sign is the kanji for 'paper' (which is read as kami....same reading as "god" but different kanji). The Japanese phrase for this type of trash is moeru-gomi, meaning "burnable (moeru) trash (gomi)".

Incombustible trash is generally plastics. However, other types of trash can be included depending on the ward. In Shinjuku (my ward), this type of trash is translated into "recyclable trash". The recycle sign that one wants to look for is this. Inside this symbol is katakana, syllable-based writing for non-traditional Japanese words. It reads pura. Who can guess what this means? It is from an English word!.............If you guess 'plastics', you are correct. This is a borrowed word from English meaning 'plastic'! Since the sound transitions in English words is difficult for the Japanese to make, they often truncate our words when they borrow them.

The last general category of trash is PET bottles. PET bottles are any plastic bottle that is made using petroleum. Truthfully, you are mostly likely not going to find very many plastic bottles that are not PET Bottles. These are separated from the rest of the plastic trash because they are processed differently from other trash...or so I've heard. I really haven't looked too much into the reasons for the separation of trash. All that I do know is that the Japanese have to immediately destroy or recycle trash because they do not have room to store. So, in order to save time and resources, the citizens are asked to separate the trash prior to pick-up. As you can guess, that which is burnable will be burned and that which can be reused will be reused.

This brings up another interesting point with the PET bottles and incombustible trash...you have to wash them before tossing them. Yes. You. Wash. Your. Trash. In. Japan. Since these types are going to be reused, having them wash beforehand helps on minimize the resources necessary for prepping the trash for being melted down and reused and preventing any unwanted oils and particles that may render the melted plastic unusable (or so I've heard). 

Combustible trash, however, does not need to be washed since it's going to be burned and utterly destroyed anyways.

Dang! This is a long post! In that case, I guess I should make it into a multi-part post. Today's post was on general Japanese trash separation. The next trash post will be on my ward's trash rules specifically. Then, I will have one last post on trash separation in town. Here, I will explain how you separate trash while at a public place. These posts will most likely come after my event posts for this weekend's various activities!

Til then, Later Peeps!