Recycle Me Silly

It has been almost 11 months since moving to Japan, and I'm still learning all of the rules for recycling. I've almost got our home recycling down pat, although I had to be reminded by my wife last night that the delicious used floss I had just thrown into the bathroom garbage was actually "プラ" (Plastic) that needed to be recycled. Here's a photo of our main recycling center - makes for a lovely kitchen center-piece!

In all, we separate our trash/recycling into 9 different bins - plastic, metal containers, glass containers, plastic bottles (with the wrappers and caps removed), paper food containers (think cereal box), newspapers (that must be stacked and bounded), beer cans, burnable trash, and non-burnable trash (anything that doesn't fit into the aforementioned categories).

It certainly takes some getting used to, but I keep telling myself it's better than wasting away in landfills, especially the landfills that Japan simply doesn't have room for. Each city has different recycling rules and pickup days, but for the most part, the basic recycling can be found in any city and at any convenience store.

Recycling at work is a whole other set of rules, worthy of another post to itself, but let me just say, did you ever think you'd have to tear the sticky part of a Post-it note off because it doesn't belong in the paper recycling? It has a completely different bin to itself. And, oh yeah, make sure the remaining paper of that Post-it note ends up in the colored paper bin!

Oh, I'm Sorry. Could You Say That in My Good Ear?

Got an old home appliance, PC, TV, or DVD player you want to get rid of? No need to even leave the house. Just wait for the Recycle truck (リサイクル業者) to stroll through your neighborhood. Take it off your hands for a fair price, too. Oh, and don't worry. You can't miss it...



I was shocked, and admittedly a little concerned the first time a truck like this strolled by our apartment (slow moving vehicle with a loud speaker is generally a recipe for disaster, no?). It was especially discomforting when we first moved here and were getting acquainted with the culture.

The Japanese people are generally really cognizant of their neighbors, especially living in such close proximity of each other. For instance, BBQ grills aren't generally allowed on your porch because the smoke can disturb your neighbors, and loud music is frowned upon after certain hours. So, despite the dense living, our neighborhood remains quite peaceful. Peaceful that is, until the piercing decibels from the Recycle Truck's loudspeaker announcing its arrival. Usually, about a two-minute advertisement played on a loop really, really loudly Quite annoying actually, especially at the excruciatingly slow pace the truck is traveling.

I have since gotten the full story from some co-workers. These trucks are used for more than just recycling - selling sweet potatoes, politics, or other various merchandise - and they aren't very popular because of the noise pollution. Apparently, this particular trade - "recycle truck" - is further frowned upon because some consider it illegal. The recycle trader takes your old appliances as "trash" and sells them in other less advanced Southeast Asian markets, so as to make a profit. The sketchy part comes with avoiding the recycle tax that is usually paid to the government. Hey, one country's trash is another country's treasure, right? In this case, at the cost of my eardrums!