Refuse

It is common in Japan to have a fairly specific, categorized system for throwing away garbage.  Shortly after coming to Nagoya, I was informed that different cities have different regulations and Nagoya happens to have one of the most complicated and strictly categorized systems in Japan.   The picture is my informational poster (in English) explaining the categories for recyclable and non-recyclable refuse and how to throw it away.   Here are some examples:

Example 1:  Plastic Bottle -

Remove cap and put in designated "pet bottle cap" box. Remove the plastic label which goes in "plastics" bag.  Then crush the bottle, which goes in the designated "pet bottle" box.

Example 2: Yogurt container -

Remove the lid which likely goes in "plastics."  Rinse the carton which goes in "paper."  If you are unable to successfully get food remainders out of a paper carton, instead throw it in the "burnable refuse" bag.  Also remember that the bags labeled for "paper" are not for computer paper or newspapers.  Those go somewhere else.

Example 3:  Random object that no informational poster tells you what to do with -

Let it sit in the corner of your room until you are tired of it being there.  Then ask your Japanese friend who may or may not know how to properly throw it away.   When in doubt, everything is combustible, right?

Because it takes some effort to properly throw things away, I think it is quite common for everyone to have at least a few plastic wrappers and cans and maybe some bento boxes that need to be washed sitting in the corner of their room.  Of course the larger the pile of garbage, the less motivation an individual will typically have to deal with it.  I would post a photo of what can happen to a room when you get particularly lazy, but I don't want to scare the Lifehouse girls away from letting me live with them next year.

Anyway, I never expected one of the things I miss from home to be a garbage bin that you can mindlessly throw all of your trash in.  What a life that would be...