More To Burn In Tokyo

[Mulboyne]

The Wall Street Journal today carries a story (subscription only) about garbage collection in Tokyo. It explains that the city will expand the number of items which are classified as burnable in Autumn. The intention is to add more plastic and rubber to the list in order to keep it out of the landfill where space is rapidly running out. Tokyo residents should have received notification already of the proposed changes but it appears that the wards have different rules. For instance, plastic detergent bottles will be burnable in Shinagawa but not in Shibuya. One group, Citizens Against Chemical Pollution opposes the idea because they believe more dioxins will be released into the air as a consequence. City officals deny this and also claim that toxic ash will be disposed of without putting residents at risk. If the full article turns up elsewhere, I'll post the link.

[Taro Toporific]

The Wall Street Journal today carries a story (subscription only) .

A couple of interesting side-notes to Kanto garbage burning I learned while rewriting incinerator technology reports of Hitachi over the years.

• Even though ALL of Kanazawa (Yokohama's prefecture) requires separation of burnable and non-burnable trash, many Kanazawa areas in fact bury all their trash and therefore separation is unnecessary. Likewise, some wards in Tokyo have 4-5 categories of non-burnable trash separation for "recycling", but in reality most non-burnable trash goes directly into landfills because Japanese recycling centers are overloaded at 500% capacity.
  
  
• Remember that as you choke on dioxins when the wind blows the wrong direction, Japan claims that its garbage burning is "carbon neutral" under the Kyoto Accord.

[Blah Pete]

Furnace temperature management.
This is the reason I was told for the recent change in Kanagawa to separate all the different kinds of plactics, etc.

[Taro Toporific]

Furnace temperature management.
This is the reason I was told for the recent change in Kanagawa to separate all the different kinds of plactics, etc.

"Furnace temperature management" is a euphemism for smoldering low-temp dioxin generation. The turds who advocate furnace temperature management are mass murders and should be dealt with accordingly.

[gomichild]

Can we just start building another island in Tokyo Bay?

[Greji]

Can we just start building another island in Tokyo Bay?

Taro already is. He's dumping all his empty shochou bottles and beer cans in the harbor.

[Samurai_Jerk]

A couple of interesting side-notes to Kanto garbage burning I learned while rewriting incinerator technology reports of Hitachi over the years.

• Even though ALL of Kanazawa (Yokohama's prefecture) requires separation of burnable and non-burnable trash, many Kanazawa areas in fact bury all their trash and therefore separation is unnecessary. Likewise, some wards in Tokyo have 4-5 categories of non-burnable trash separation for "recycling", but in reality most non-burnable trash goes directly into landfills because Japanese recycling centers are overloaded at 500% capacity.
  
  
• Remember that as you choke on dioxins when the wind blows the wrong direction, Japan claims that its garbage burning is "carbon neutral" under the Kyoto Accord.

Taro, I think you've posted that kind of info on here before. Do you know of any sources where that could be verified? It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that I'd love to have an article or study that I could show to some people.

[Taro Toporific]

Taro, I think you've posted that kind of info on here before. Do you know of any sources where that could be verified? It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that I'd love to have an article or study that I could show to some people.

I've been following the garbage issue here in Japan for about 15 years ever since an editor buddy on the San Francisco Examiner asked me for a bunch of background information about Japan's "superior" garbage and recycling efforts for a series his paper was doing on recycling. Sadly, that was just as Japanese recycling efforts were starting to fall apart. (Think about it: 25 years ago most beer and milk came in returnable glass bottles, funny little old men came to the house to collect newspaper and cardboard, local markets handed your your food purchases wrapped in sheet of newspaper to put in your furoshiki, etc., etc.)

Anyway, I have collected a monster file of garbage and recycling info over the years which I look around and try to find it (damn, what CD was it on...). I've posted pieces of that info many times here on the FG and others have mentioned various facts like Kanazawa's faux recycling and garbage separation program. Gee, come to thing of it, I ought to write a few muckracking articles about it and sell them to the Japan Times (to recycle my old garbage).

[IkemenTommy]

I've been following the garbage issue here in Japan for about 15 years ever since an editor buddy on the San Francisco Examiner asked me for a bunch of background information about Japan's "superior" garbage and recycling efforts for a series his paper was doing on recycling. Sadly, that was just as Japanese recycling efforts were starting to fall apart. (Think about it: 25 years ago most beer and milk came in returnable glass bottles, funny little old men came to the house to collect newspaper and cardboard, local markets handed your your food purchases wrapped in sheet of newspaper to put in your furoshiki, etc., etc.)

Anyway, I have collected a monster file of garbage and recycling info over the years which I look around and try to find it (damn, what CD was it on...). I've posted pieces of that info many times here on the FG and others have mentioned various facts like Kanazawa's faux recycling and garbage separation program. Gee, come to thing of it, I ought to write a muckracking articles about it and sell them to the Japan Times (to recycle my old garbage).

Have you ever seen a separate pick-up truck dedicated to the recycles? My apartment is "strict" about separating the burns, nonburnables, and recycles, but I have noticed that they only have two kinds of trash pick up days: burnable and nonburnable, which leads me to suspect that they never recycle any of the cans and bottles.

[Mulboyne]

The first story in this thread explained how a lot of plastic items were being reclassified as burnable. Now it seems a whole bunch are also being reclassified as recyclable:

Asahi: Tokyo wards step up recycling efforts

Residents of 12 of Tokyo's 23 wards will have to recycle more of their plastic garbage under new rules starting today. Minato, Chiyoda, Bunkyo, Taito, Sumida, Shinagawa, Meguro, Setagaya, Shibuya, Nakano, Toshima and Nerima ward residents will have to dispose of some items as combustible waste and others as "recyclable plastics." Until September, most such items were classified as incombustible. Koto Ward is due to follow suit in March. The 10 other wards have already made the switch. While rules differ among wards, recyclable plastics in Minato Ward, for example, include shopping bags, food trays, toothpaste tubes and shampoo bottles and styrofoam.

[Adhesive]

Taro already is. He's dumping all his empty shochou bottles and beer cans in the harbor.

I don't even want to think about the glue holding that mess together...but it probably involves years worth of spent tissue and tube socks.

[Jack]

The Japanese garbage system is easy compared with what we do in this shithole of a country. We have to sort three different ways 1) the usual recyclables which is picked up once a week; 2) biodegradables meaning anything like food trash, bones, skins or whatever, picked up once a week and 3) leftover garbage picked up every two weeks. Apparantly the biodegradable stuff becomes compost and used in parks or given to whoever wants it. Burning garbage is a good idea and adding plastics which acts like fuel can save energy.