May 9, 2009

So Many Categories


Throwing out garbage used to be so simple.

Here in Tokorozawa, garbage is divided into roughly 7 categories. Combustible garbage, Plastic garbage, plastic bottles, Noncombustible/Hazardous garbage, Bottles/Cans/Spray cans, and Newspapers/Magazines/Cardboard boxes. Then there's the Oversize garbage, like couches and refrigerators, that need to be picked up for a certain fee. All these have to be thrown out on a specified day.

It's all written out here.

It just keeps on getting harder to throw things out. Which is probably why we need to reduce what we throw away. What was the motto...reduce, reuse, recycle?

5 comments:

Tall Gary said...

Whew. That’s 10 pages of rules apart from 6 pages of schedules. That’s a far cry from the time when trash was either burnable or non-burnable.

Here we have one page of directions. The nice thing here is that we put all the recyclables—glass, cans, cardboard, hard plastic, recyclable plastic, newspapers, magazines, just any paper—mixed up as we wish, in one container. My guess is that there is some kind of automated separation process.

With all the recyclables being collected my actual trash is quite limited. Not much at all.

I think I would be so confused if I lived in Tokorozawa.

nobu said...

I think reduce is most important in the three R.

henny said...

No difference with here in Saiho. Rumor has it, in Osaka, they only separate garbage into non-burnable and burnable. I like the way our local government's concern about garbage management.
Well, if my English serves me right, you maybe forget landfill garbage :).

Uma por Dia said...

Here we only have 3
plastic
glass
paper
:)

Kaori said...

Gary, the recycling system sounds much better there! It's so hard to remember if they pick up cardboards on the first tues or second tues...or was it the third? :)

Nobu, you are so right. I think that's the best solution all around too.

Henny, my parents live in Osaka and yes, they only have to divide it into two categories. There's a city near tokorozawa that doesn't separate their trash anymore because they burn it at an incredibly high temperature. Very envious!

Uma por Dia, I love how your system is so simple! You are very lucky :)

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