The Confusing Trash Situation in Japan

 The only thing I had heard about the trash situation in Japan is that there aren't a lot of trash cans around the city, which turned out to be true.  In the United States you can find a trash can anywhere if you need to throw something away.  Stores typically have a trash can right in front of them, and fast food places always have trash cans inside and out, plus gas stations have a place to throw trash, parks all have trash cans, etc.

And when walking around Tokyo we rarely came across a place to throw away trash, and when we did there were strict restrictions, like bottles and cans only.

On our first day when we arrived at the apartment, we were given a booklet filled with instructions, most of it was describing what to do with the trash.  There were yellow trash bags just for combustibles.  A place to put metal.  And PET bottles.  There were very specific instructions for PET bottles.

Michael and I scratched our head over that.  Were pets really so popular that they needed their own trash system?  Were PET bottles a specific type of bottle for dog and cat food?

It took us a few days to realize PET bottles were plastic bottles -_-;;

And by then I had so many empty water bottles with no clue exactly what to do with them.  There was a specific place we were supposed to put the bottles on the outside so they could be picked up, but we missed that time.  And the bin wasn't replaced the next day, so I kept my empty bottles in a specific place next to my bed on the ground, until we were given further instruction by the apartment owner.

There's a reason the trash system is complicated, mainly because Japan is an island with little room, and apparently they burn trash for energy as well, which is pretty cool, actually.

 But the confusion was doubly complex whenever we ate fast food.

All the slots to put trash!!!

The hole is to dump liquids.

 For instance, the slot on the left, the cup, is that paper or plastic? The image could mean both, but logic would have me putting the plastic cup in the right slot, with the other plastic.

 

And I never figured out this cup system.

 At least this trash system at the Skytree food court had some English.

After a week I was getting use to it.

It was strange, landing in LAX and having a couple bottles in my hand that I needed to throw away before going through security again, and realizing I could just "throw it away."  No special slot or restriction.  It was kind of weird . . .