Recycler found guilty of collecting used papers

Sunday 20th July, 06:41 AM JST

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borscht at 09:05 AM JST - 20th July

DXXP,

It probably cost a lot more than the fine to prosecute. Legally he wasn't arrested for recycling. He was arrested for theft. I can imagine the ward doesn't want people rooting through garbage. Of course, homeless people do it all the time. Perhaps the ward was ticked off because un-named defendant was making a profit off of the ward's garbage.
some14some at 09:38 AM JST - 20th July

In short, waste collection and wasteful use of money is the job of respective ward offices and let individuals go jobless.
serindipity at 10:39 AM JST - 20th July

Next, we'll be seeing JR prosecuting people for collecting magazines from trains because they are the property of JR. I fail to see the crime. If the Setagaya ward council are so uptight about sharing their garbage they should lock it up and then they can get one of those idiotic ojisans in their security guard uniform to look after it at a cost of around 2m yen a year. That would make sense in a Japanese kind of way. It would be interesting to know jus what the Setagaya council had intended to do with the papers. My guess is, they were gonna sell them to the same recycler and that is why they busted his donkey because they didn't get their 1 yen per kilo of old newspapers.
Bovinus at 11:38 AM JST - 20th July

It's also setting an example to other people who do the same thing. This happens all the time near where I live. Not just paper but also bottles and cans etc.

If the local government collects this stuff and sells them to recyclers, the local government gets money. Ideally, this would flow into community projects. So people who take paper etc are stealing from the community. This should be punished.
moonbeams at 01:12 PM JST - 20th July

one of those idiotic ojisans

you really dislike this society, huh?
presto345 at 03:51 PM JST - 20th July

Recyclable trash is collected by contractors approved by wards or cities, etc. Money is involved here. The trash is not just that and does not belong to anyone who is passing by and thinks he/she can make an easy buck by bypassing local regulations. In my neigborhood I have been annoyed by the collecting practices of illegal operators for years. The noise and the stench of the dilapidated trucks, one after the other. The ward now has finally put a stop to all that and started to enforce ordinances. I like it when the courts do something to uphold the laws and stop this attitude of 'all that is found in the roads is free and belongs to me'. Grave misunderstanding.
DXXJP at 04:48 PM JST - 20th July

Presto

Half the gaijin in japan furnished their houses with the collectibles on the corner. What is generation Z going to do.
presto345 at 04:52 PM JST - 20th July

Presto Half the gaijin in japan furnished their houses with the collectibles on the corner. What is generation Z going to do.

Poor slobs. But these days are over anyway.
some14some at 05:14 PM JST - 20th July

Ideally, this would flow into community projects.

Ideally speaking 'yes' but practically this flow becomes pool of slush fund in Japan. As such, i don't mind poor people making few hundred yens out of waste collection.
presto345 at 05:31 PM JST - 20th July

some14some Excuse me for saying this, but I am not sure you are aware what is going on in some places. It's not poor people making a few hundred yen. It's people who criss cross the city or wards every day, all day long in their polluting trucks picking up recyclable and nowadays valuable trash they have no right to pick up, making more money than someone with a regular job. In my area I used to see some guys who did this before going off to another job. Having 20, 30 or more noisy, smoky, fine dust emitting ancient diesel trucks pass your house a few times each week is OK with you? Not with me.
presto345 at 05:33 PM JST - 20th July

I am sorry. This is what I wanted to say:

some14some Excuse me for saying this, but I am not sure you are aware what is going on in some places. It's not poor people making a few hundred yen. It's people who criss cross the city or wards every day, all day long in their polluting trucks picking up recyclable and nowadays valuable trash they have no right to pick up, making more money than someone with a regular job. In my area I used to see some guys who did this before going off to another job. Having 20, 30 or more noisy, smoky, fine dust emitting ancient diesel trucks pass your house several days a week is OK with you? Not with me. >
some14some at 10:46 PM JST - 20th July

presto345: no reason for me to disagree with your posting, may be i m living in a poor locality where what i see is old and poor people (bit disgusting, excuse me) collecting such waste also it is hard to believe they can find 'valuable' trash these days (in past, yes it was there). Legally what they are doing may be wrong, still, i have sympathy for these people rather than for local ward offices who are wasting millions of tax payers yen for personal use.
delitachan at 07:17 PM JST - 21st July

He was just going green!!
kokuryu at 07:15 AM JST - 22nd July

Society is sick if you can charged with the theft of trash... I believe in the age old adage of one man's trash is another man's treasure. This type of recycling goes on even here in the US. I put out trash in two general piles - food and cleanup waste - nobody goes through that, and general appliance and other throwouts - people pick through those and usually within 1 day of being put out, they are gone.
dany505 at 07:16 AM JST - 22nd July

come jt this is news?