Christeph: On the Lam

Think you have a hard time remembering which week is recycling week? Take a look at this.

Japanese trash is separated into no less than nine categories which are picked up in different ways and at different times. Trash pickup is centralized. Everyone on each block takes their trash to a special cage on the morning of pickup.

From top to bottom:

• Burnable trash (red). This includes food, unrecyclable paper, and most kinds of plastic. This goes in a special red plastic bag which you have to buy at the store. Picked up every Monday and Thursday.
• Recyclable cans (sky blue). These go in special nets which magically appear next to the trash cage the night before pickup. Picked up first and third Wednesdays.
• Glass bottles (mustard). These supposedly go in special bottle cases. We have never seen these cases in the wild so we’re not sure what to expect. Picked up first and third Wednesdays with the cans.
• Recyclable plastic (royal blue). This is for bottles with a “1″ recycle sign on them. I have never seen this sign on any bottle, so that’s easy. These go in the special recycle nets. Picked up 2nd and 4th Wednesdays.
• Recyclable paper (yellow). These have to be separated into newspaper; magazines and glossy paper; cardboard; and packaging. You need to tie them up with twine in nice rectangular piles. Picked up 2nd and 4th wednesdays.
• Unburnable trash (green). Anything that doesn’t fall into the burnable or recyclable categories goes in a green plastic bag that you buy at the store. Picked up 2nd and 4th Wednesdays.
• Furniture (brown). Certain kinds of furniture will be picked up by appointment for a fee. Fortunately I don’t think we’ll ever have to do this.
• Appliances (yellow #3). Appliances are SOL. Fortunately we won’t have to get rid of any of these either.

So far we’ve survived two trash days without getting admonished by the landlady (apparently the previous tenant got a lot of lip from her about his trash sorting).  Wish us luck!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 9th, 2006 at 1:16 pm and is filed under Ambiance, Culture Shock, Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.