Japan has an interesting history with trash and recycling. Post World War II, Japan saw rapid growth to the Japanese economy. However, like most countries in the mist of economic growth, other underlying issues as a result been ignored. One of these is the environmental issue. Many factories at the time had dangerous byproduct that caused illness to citizens.
The Current System With Recycling
As of present day, the recycling system in Japan has undergone great change. Although recycling rules can depend on the city you live in, it is not uncommon to find people separating trash into 12 distinctive trash types. Some of the common ones include burnable, non-burnable, and glass. In addition to the 12 distinctive trash types, different trash and recyclables are collected at different times of the month.
In fact, recycling happens everywhere- restaurants, schools and subways. More importantly, even big fast food chains will separate the plastic and paper aspects of trash.
What Happens to it All?
What does Japan exactly do with all the material it recycles? One of the main materials recycled in Japan are PET bottles. Your plastic bottle is made of PET, which stands for polyethylene terephthalate. PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate, which is the plastic your typical water bottle is made from. After this plastic is sorted and crushed, it can be reused or sold.
Some of the items recycled PET bottles can make include carpets, clothes and pillows. Sometimes the finished product is even more impressive than the original. The Pilot’s Petball is one example of this. Another common recyclable are glass bottles. The glass bottles are usually collected and sorted by color. Titles can be made after all the glass bottles are smashed and pieced back together.
Japan does not just simply use all the recycled material, though. In the past, Japan and along with many other countries have exported much of their trash and recycling to China. However, with recent policy reform, China has recently banned over twenty types of waste from other countries.
”Instead of the usual 12 distinctive recycling sections in Japan, Kamikatsu has 34 and it grew to 45!”
This legislation will force nations such as Japan to continue to find creative ways to not only recycle continuously, but also to use the recycled material more.
Japan’s No-Waste Town
In one of Japan’s small towns, Kamikatsu, residents do not joke when recycling. Instead of the usual 12 distinctive recycling sections in Japan, Kamikatsu has 34 and it grew to 45! That all means the categories of recyclables are super specific. Paper flyers and paper cartons are even separated. All of this effort is a hope that the town will go zero-waste by 2020.
Even if the residents would like a quick fix to dispose their trash, it is not possible. There are no garbage trucks in the area. All packages and containers are properly clean before each household or store has to personally take the sorted trash to the recycling center.
With a population of under 2000 and a dedicated to work, it seems like a very feasible dream of going zero-waste.
