If you remember in the fall of last year, I was stressed out big time over sorting my garbage. We had burnables, non-burnables, recycling that was divided into cans, glass containers, newspapers, magazines, cardboard and pet bottles. The pet bottles you couldn't put out by the curb because they didn't pick them up. We had to carry them to our local grocery store where there was a bin for bottles and plastic food trays. Glass and metal cans had to be in separate bags. Newspapers had to be bundled up and tied, as did magazines and fliers. I had to cut and fold flat all the milk and juice cartons and put them out together. Recycling day was Monday. Non-burnables went out on Tuesday and Saturday. Burnables went out on Wednesday. It seemed as if I needed a Masters Degree in rubbish sorting to get it right. Oh yeah. No bags of burnables or non-burnables could be put on the street unless they were inside the tiny little cans that were provided for us. The neighborhood crows hang out on garbage pick up day, sitting atop poles and watching with their huge beaks and beady black eyes for garbage bags to rip apart and the opportunity to fling smelly kitchen refuse all over the street, thus publicly shaming the housewife of the offending household. Some buildings have blue nets that they put over their bags to keep the crows out, but they are not effective against these relentless hungry creatures.
I was shamed twice and I was mortified. The first time, I could play stupid and Kimura-san was nice enough about it. The second time I was just late and lazy and knew the truck would be by in just a few minutes and figured it would be fine. Nope. It was a horrible smelly mess that Kimura-san must have cleaned up while I was gone. So I never ever put out garbage unless it's bagged in the cans. The recycling is different. The birds aren't interested in the recycling. No waste, no smell, no potential food. Much of it looks gift wrapped, for Pete's sake!
The family adapted pretty well to this system after a while, although I think one of the boys (I will not mention any names here) occasionally put plastics in the burnables. I would dig through the garbage and make sure it was all in the correct bins under the sink. We had it down to a science.
Well...that's pretty much gone out the window. Plastics, according to the Japanese waste management department, are now "burnable." No they're not.
Japan apparently has filled up the space it uses for land fill so now the alternative is to burn the burnables and non-burnables. Robin says there is new technology for preventing the toxic poisons to be blasted into the air we breathe and the water we drink, but I'm skeptical. I am continuing my research into Japan's plan. Here's one article on the subject:
http://www.weekenderjapan.com/v04n16/feature1.html
The Japanese wrap everything in plastic. Bananas come in plastic. Carrots are in plastic. Every little thing you buy in a store is double bagged. For instance, I bought some spices at Mitsukoshi in Chiba on Saturday, and they put them in a little plastic bag, taped it shut, and then put that bag in another plastic bag with a handle. Bell peppers are all individually wrapped in plastic. Presentation bouquets of flowers have 3 or 4 layers of decorative wrapping. All the convenient store foods are on plastic or Styrofoam trays, have plastic lids and then are again sealed in plastic wrap. I got a little anxious throwing plastic away every day under my sink, but at least I knew it was not being burned. But no longer. I wonder why everything has to be hermetically sealed here.
This makes me uneasy. I am worried about our planet.
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