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  Today Online 7 Jul 07
My friend, the garbage bag
Lim MEI TOR NG news@newstoday.com.sg

CULTURE shock in Japan can come in many forms. In my case, it took an ice-cream wrapper to enlighten me on just how seriously the Japanese take the collection of garbage.

I once bought an ice-cream cone from a vending machine in Tokyo and, without thinking, dumped both the paper and plastic wrapper into a bin marked "for combustible garbage".

An ojisan (middle-aged man) pointed out that I should have thrown my plastic wrappers into the bin marked "non-combustible".

For the uninitiated, proper garbage disposal is not just the concern of the "greenies" in Japan — every resident is expected to play his part.

Trying to locate a dustbin in the country is virtually Mission: Impossible. Most times, the only bins you will find are the ones next to the vending machines which are designed to take only the used cans or bottles from the machines.

The other places you can find them are at train stations and convenience stores. However, at every "bin corner" are three different bins, one for newspapers/magazines/cigarette packs/bento food trays; one for plastic bottles; and one for metal cans.

What if your rubbish does not fit into any of the above? Take it home.

I know of some Japanese folks who carry a "garbage" bag — so that they can separate it at home.

Every apartment is assigned a garbage disposal corner where you are meant to drop off your trash.

You do so according to the days assigned for "combustible" (twice a week), "non-combustible" (once a week) and "recyclable" (once a week) garbage. The latter is further broken down into plastic bottles and metal cans. If you miss the deadline for the collection, usually at 8am, your garbage stays with you until the next collection day for that "genre" of garbage.

And don't even think of escaping the hawk-like eyes of the "garbageman" — he checks your garbage carefully. Should even one improperly segregated bag of garbage be found, the entire lot of garbage will not be collected that day — and a red warning note will be pasted on the wall.

Collect a few more red slips and the garbage folks will not be stopping by your area for the next few days. You know you are a marked person when you receive a letter from the municipal office pleading with you to abide by the rules of garbage segregation.

If that still doesn't do the trick, a fine will be imposed — not just on you but also on everyone in that apartment "found guilty" of garbage negligence.

And I thought collective punishment applied only to backward societies!

Japanese corporations are also doing their part for the green cause in a big way. The Japan Railway company collects used train tickets and recycles them into toilet paper for the station toilets.

Fashion label Uniqlo uses plastic bottles to make its fleece jackets. Japanese supermarkets have special collection bins for styrofoam trays and milk cartons. For the latter, you are asked to have them cut open, flattened, washed, rinsed and dried before putting them into the bin.

Troublesome? Well, the Japanese do it anyway.

They don't have much of a choice, actually. Since the mid-1990s, two laws have been in place to ensure that garbage segregation and recycling are part and parcel of their daily lives.

They were introduced at a time when land-scarce Japan was running out of space to dump the millions of tonnes of waste it produced annually. The government decided that one way to solve the garbage problem was to promote recycling in a big way.

Still, law or no law, I dare say that the majority of the Japanese are both more aware and concerned about the environment, compared to Singaporeans.

The "Bring Your Own Bag" campaign launched in April is but the start of the long journey to Singapore becoming an environmentally-conscious nation.

The writer is a Singaporean who is now studying in Japan.
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