Comments on: Rubbish

By: Shibuya246

Shibuya246 — Sat, 30 May 2009 13:10:58 +0000

It's not quite that bad, but I know what you mean.

By: Andoryu

Andoryu — Sat, 30 May 2009 09:25:47 +0000

The building I used to live at had a landlady that sounds a lot like yours. She would wait on trash days to make sure we did it right. If we messed up we would be scolded. She would make me nervous about throwing anything away.

By: Shibuya246

Shibuya246 — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:32:45 +0000

Thanks Ryan. My building manager (管理人) likes things very clean. If it wasn't for the smell, you could eat in the garbage room. It is that clean. Not all garbage places are like that though. I am sure there are many good/bad stories about the garbage room in people's apartments.

By: Shibuya246

Shibuya246 — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:31:31 +0000

That news report is great isn't it. I have see a similar video showing the rubbish piling up on the street. Frightening.

By: Shibuya246

Shibuya246 — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:30:53 +0000

I really like the look of that incinerator. I heard they have special incinerators for medical waste products also. Great idea. Saves time on separation and makes it easier for garbage collectors. Thanks for posting the link. Very interesting.

By: Shibuya246

Shibuya246 — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:30:08 +0000

It is difficult isn't it. I have seen the instruction papers and they are hard to follow. Thanks for dropping by.

By: Shibuya246

Shibuya246 — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:29:43 +0000

It does take a lot of time. Not everything gets separated out perfectly and they still take the rubbish anyway. No system is perfect.

By: Shibuya246

Shibuya246 — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:29:09 +0000

Thanks. Some place require a lot of separation, others not so much. It depends where you live. I sometimes choose what I am buying based on what rubbish comes with it. I prefer less rubbish to separate and throw away. B)

By: Shibuya246

Shibuya246 — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:28:11 +0000

Sometimes residents or garbage collectors might go through the garbage to find the name of the person if there is a problem with the separation, but normally it just gets collected and taken away. If you have a strict manager in your building its best to check. Most neighbors are nice about it if you make a mistake.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 30 May 2009 06:34:03 +0000

When I started to read this article, I was surprised by the thoroughness of the sorting, however, now that I think about it, I realise that it's essential in a city such as Tokyo.

In Britain, we separate for cardboard, paper, glass, plastic and general waste. The thing is though, unless you scrape off the stickers on bottles, or separate cellophane wrappers from cardboard boxes etc. then the waste management people can't recycle it as the component parts are not correct. Therefore, I doubt anything actually ever goes to recycle, as people can't be bothered to separate.

With the type of meticulousness you've displayed in the pictures; it looks much more effective.

By: Angie

Angie — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:37:47 +0000

With all that rubbish I cant help but wonder how many hours one must spend in the garbage room per week -_- We're not so strict here in Britain. My area has a kerbside collection and we put the items for recycling into 3 containers:
blue box = glass, cans, textiles, paper
red box = card, cardboard
brown bin = compostable garden waste.

Rubbish maybe a problem in Japan (and a growing worry for many other countries), but have you heard about the rubbish crisis in Naples?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7423245.s…

By: elimam

elimam — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:08:18 +0000

actually it depends of which ward you are living in.
i live in Adachi-ku (Toyko) and we don't have to do all that. except for (clean) pet bottles, cans & carton boxes everything else goes into the same bin.
Adachi have a "special" incinerators that burn all kind of rubish & convert it into energy.
http://www.city.adachi.tokyo.jp/008/d06300047.htm… (japanese)