Job Discussion Forums

[gwynnie86]

So I've just moved in.... and been given a guide to garbade/rubbish disposal.
Burnable... non burnable... plastic packaging... and "other" recycling which seems to be glass, cans and plastic bottles. THEN cardboard and newspapers etc are separately collected somewhere else.
The thing is, I have a bunch of receipts, packaging that could be "pura" (plastic packaging) but there are labels on them so... do they labels have to be peeled off and put somewhere else?.... and then my cups and bowls from the shops were wrapped in some kind of padding - where does this go? Is there a definitive guide somewhere to this... my LeoPalace manual tells me I could be evicted if I don't recycle properly!?!?

[Apsara]

Your city/ward office should have a guide to exactly what's what kind of garbage in your area, and they may even have an English version too. We get a 20 page gomi booklet and calendar from our city each year, in Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese! We also have to buy special bags for each kind of garbage where I live.

Receipts are non-recyclable paper so should go in the burnable garbage. Plastic packing like bubble wrap and styrofoam is usually recyclable plastic.

Plastic with large labels should probably also go into the burnable. I've never been quite clear on whether plastic with small paper labels can go into recyclable plastic or not- I tend to put it with the recyclable plastic, as I think they must have some kind of system for it. Most Japanese people are not sure of this kind of thing as well, so it's not the kind of thing that will get you evicted- that would be more for people who just threw all their garbage in one bag or constantly put garbage out on the wrong days, which is considered quite a heinous thing to do in Japan- in some more rural areas the "gomi Nazis" will come after you if you even commit a slight infraction of the rules, but in Tokyo people are usually not so anal.

[Glenski]

I agree. Have the ward office get a complete description to you.

As for labels, sometimes they have to be taken off and put in the recycle materials bags, but I've never taken labels off anything other than the following:

PET bottles
steel cans
yogurt containers

Look at the container. It should say what goes where. Not all yogurt containers are alike, BTW!

One more tip that may ingratiate you with the neighbors (especially the garbage nazis who spy on everyone just to see that things are handled properly): If you know the day for certain garbage, go out there with open bags with garbage you think is correct, plus some empty spares, and ask the little old ladies who are depositing their trash what is correct and not. They may appreciate it. If you are wrong, they may dump bags back on your doorstep.

[Inflames]

On garbage day, go down and check on the garbage that is there. I'm not sure what LeoPalace does but they're probably a bit lax as long as it's nothing too egregious. My first apartment building in Japan had the old ladies who checked everything. In the two after that (one was a 25 year old dump and the other a 5 year old mansion), nobody cared. If it violated some sort of huge rule, the garbage people wouldn't touch it.

Plastic wrapping is generally plastic although, if it has a label, you should either cut out or take off the paper label. The same is true for caps and labels on drinks - those are プラ, but the bottle itself is PET so they technically need to be separated, although I've never really seen anyone do it.

[mushroomyakuza]

Sounds so complicated.

My guide in my LeoPalace place is also pretty useless to be honest. I may ask for a more comprehensive one at the ward office when I go for my ARC.

For a lot of the stuff, I really just don't know what day it should go on - the guide is very specific about certain things eg. flourescent lights etc, but not basics like food packaging - how do I know it's recyclable? I haven't seen the western symbol of the green triangle with arrows going in a circle, so I'm guessing it's in Kanji?

[seklarwia]

[Glenski]

[Apsara]

The symbol for recyclable plastic is a rounded triangle quite similar to the western "recyclable" symbol, with the katakana プラ inside it. Other than that all glass bottles and jars, steel and aluminium cans, and PET bottles (which have PET written on them in alphabet), are recyclable, so pretty much as you would expect.

[Glenski]

[Apsara]

I stand by my statement. Just because the caps and labels may have to be removed doesn't mean the bottles aren't recyclable!

[gwynnie86]

My problem is that there is no colelction day for paper and cardboard, but I know it's recycleable! Hmmmm. A lot of people have said "just put it in burnable" but I don't really want to...

[Apsara]

That's unusual. Everywhere I've lived has had a recyclable paper pick-up day. There must be some way for people in your area to recycle paper. If you use paper milk and juice packs you will almost certainly be able to recycle those at your supermarket- see which recycling bins they have. You have to rinse and cut them open first.

[Glenski]

[ssjup81]

I bought some "towel paper" today, but on the packaging, I'm not seeing anything to indicate how I should sort it trash wise. So, are paper towels burnable or non-burnable? Will it vary depending on the brand of paper towels you get?

[Apsara]

Non-recyclable paper like tissues, paper towels etc is burnable. It doesn't depend on the kind of paper towels- all paper is burnable