How to Sort Household Garbage / Recycling in Japan

www.youtube.com/yuckypeas In November of last year, I had just moved to Japan and it took a bit to get used to sorting the trash. Now, it's something we, even the youngest children, do automatically.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Garbage
• recycling
• Japan
• sorting
• waste
• trash
• Japanese

[myuuzimiki]

thanks for making this video. it's helpful. But I still don't know how to sort it. I put plastic bottles in a separate bag and everything else goes into burnables.

[yuckypeas]

@myuuzimiki PET bottles are separate than other plastics. Depending on your city, they may be even separated again into PET numbers (1, 5 are pretty common). Aluminum and tin are recycled, but all other metals are non-burnable. See if you can get a chart from your city. Even if it's not in English, they have pics that are pretty easy to decipher. Let me know how it goes :)

[hakudoushinumber9]

i am thinking about moving here. it will be hard... but i think it would be nice

[yuckypeas]

@hakudoushinumber9 It can be tough, but it's also fun. The best memories in life come from when we are challenged outside our comfort zone. :)

[yuckypeas]

Mmm.. some days it's a pain (I admit!) but "hire people" means tax increase. I'd rather sort it myself. Besides, it does make me more conscious of our family's carbon footprint... which is a good thing.

If we MUST pay someone, you're right -- trash sorting over counting cars would be far more helpful :)

[WillyyyV]

I really like the system of trash disposal in Japan, surprisingly. >.<. I think that people should be responsible for there own waste. Tokyo is very clean, compared to the U.S. major cities :].

[majdnem]

Thanks. :O)

[kmah88]

what i never understood about japan is why they hire people for useless jobs like counting cars or handing out flyers or holding a sign up, etc. they COULD instead hire these people to sort garbage once it's actually collected!

i live in canada... we used to have to separate our recycling into platics and papers but now it's all together and they do that for you.