Japanese Trash Talk

I am not Oscar the Grouch.  I hate trash.  And, I hate trash now more than ever.  I can't remember if I have mentioned it before or not, but here in Japan we have to separate all the trash before throwing it out.  It is extremely complicated and, if I may so, extremely gross.  There is burnable trash, non-burnable trash, recyclable trash, can trash, plastic trash, etc. etc. etc.  So, how do you know what trash something goes in?  You don't really until you take your trash down to the trash room and watch the man who essentially lives there pick through your trash and tell you where you went wrong (in Japanese and very excitedly).  There are steep fines for putting the wrong trash in the containers and so landlords and apartment managers are fanatical about trash.

So, think about this for a minute. In the US, you finish off a jug of milk, a jar of peanut butter, a t.v. dinner, a package of chicken...all that trash goes into the trash.  In Tokyo, you finish off a jug of milk, you break down the box (because things don't really come in plastic--it's all quart sized paper cartons), wash it off, and set it to the side until you take the carton trash down.  You scoop out the last real bit of peanut butter, you use liquid soap and a cloth to clean out the jar (it must be clean before becoming trash) and set it aside until you take down big plastic jar things.  You don't eat t.v. dinners because there is no oven and you can't find much by way of prepared foods here anyway, but if you did you would break down the box (for the carton trash), wash out the plastic or metal tray until it was clean and set it aside for that type of trash, and throw the plastic cover in with the plastic trash.  And meat? So gross.. chicken, beef, or whatever mystery meat you happened to buy because the labels are in Japanese...you use the meat and then wash off that styrofoam thingy to be set aside until you take down styrofoam thingy trash.

Our apartment is full of trash--several trashes in the bathroom because dental floss and toilet paper are separate types of trash. And, I might mention that "dirty" toilet paper can't be recycled while clean might be so they really should be separated.

We have boxes everywhere.  When you order food to be delivered (such as our wonderful American junk food from the Flying Pig), they come in big boxes delivered by Yamato Shipping.  It's great. Except when you sit down and realize you now have several big boxes in your small apartment. What to do with them?  Well, ultimately you have to break them down, but we haven't done that yet because we are completely uncertain about which trash to put them in!

Did I mention that different kinds of trash have their own day?  Or that you have to collect all the uneaten food in its own bag? That's right--dinner scraps become one more bag of trash (and a disgusting one at that).

In NC I felt lazy about the big blue recycling bin--I put in cans and some stuff, but I'll be honest, a lot of things ended up in the general trash.  Now I am thinking longingly of my big tubs outside and a kitchen unlittered with cartons and food waste.

One last note.  In America we have garbage disposals. Here in Tokyo we have nets.  The kitchen sink has a drain that you cover with a net that catches any food trash that happens to be headed down. Then, every day or so you take off that net and--once again--separate the trash.  I have been putting the net with the food trash, but I think technically it goes a different place.  At this point I would rather pay a fine or risk the ire of the guy in the trash room.

I hate trash!