What suggestions do you have for reducing the amount of garbage that gets thrown out each day?
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34 Comments
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0
blvtzpk
Give me less packaging, or serious options to the multi-packaged items. That'd be a step. The 'Russian Doll' tradition of packaging in Japan is so ingrained however - it'd be hard to shake.
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tkoind2
Less packaging, more product people. I don't need a wrapper, paper bag and plastic bag for a simple sandwich.
Next how about we decide to let somethings stay in fashion for more than a few weeks? Everything has to be the newest, latest, most up to date. How about making things to last? And letting them stay in style and fashion for a longer period of time?
And let's make things that last. Enough of this built in life cycle that keeps us replacing everything all the time because things die off so fast.
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Lieutenant
How about less consumption?
0
GW
if you have a garden compost all yr scrap plant matter, egg shells etc
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Triple888
Hit it where it hurts, the wallet. People should be given a garbage quota and garbage tax shall be imposed if this quota is exceeded.
0
BlackFlag
eat less, make avant garde fashion clothing out of it, pile it up in front of your house like that chap last week, burn it all, send it back to the company who made it, they'd soon get the message. other than buying less and saying no to plastic bags the onus is on the producer not the consumer.
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AlfGarnett
Don't buy wot youdon't want.
During the war we learned how to be frugal, we understood the value of products.
Now what with all this buy 1 get1 free cobbler5s down Tescos, people don't appreciate stuff.
Blimey, try living on my budget, i'm an old age pensioner, i can't afford to waste nuffink, and i bleeding don't either.
0
Azrael
I agree with AlfGarnett. People need to be frugal again. I lived in a military dictatorship 14 years of my life, we had to be frugal with everything. I used to make my own clothes, have one or two pairs of shoes for school (uniform) and sneakers (also school, but to go out, too). I also know how to cook from raw materials (no need of fancy pre-made stuff which makes grocery shopping more expensive) and there was no need to go partying at all. I spent most of my time studying and reading books, and that is still paying off. Today I try to live by simple rules I learned back then about spending, and now I think it'll be best to adhere to those more strictly in order to keep ends meeting. If people were less dependent of pre-made things, frozen foods and fashion, their budgets would shrink considerably and so would their garbage "contributions."
0
Spidey
Stop triple packaging everthing!!
"Oh. What a cute box! Oh, how sweet! Each little cake has its own cute little wrapper. Oh, how unbelievable! Each little cake wrapped inside each little cute wrapper is wrapped in UGLY PLASTIC!!
S
0
GW
triple888
This system is already widely in place, I a have to BUY my gomi bags, more I use more I PAY, since I compost a lot though I probably pay less than others
0
mareo2
No more disposable choopsticks on the restaurants, they can wash the chopsticks. Also the disposable wet towel, they can have reusables and wash them. Less layers of packaging. In J concetrated products that save space are a must have, ie toothpaste, juice, diverse cleaners, etc... then we can buy in bulk. People need to try to go to shooping with their own bags. Reduce the amount of advertisement mail. Try to repair in place of throw and buy a new stuff. Encourage Ecology through Economy. Gov cannot force people, be a point of reference for the society. Lead the way by implement the measures in the schools and gob offices.
0
uberloser
Refuse, re-use, recycle. Simple.
0
Nessie
The Tokyu Store charged me 5 yen for a shopping bag. I never take bags when I have only a few items, but in this case I had done a lot of shopping, so I coughed up the 5 yen.
I noticed it wasn't clear plastic, so I couldn't re-use it as a trash bag. When I pointed this out, they said "That's right. You can't re-use it as a trash bag."
One step forward, two steps back. I will avoid Tokyu Store from now on.
0
Disillusioned
Many countries have a levy on shopping bags. It's a five cent levy in Australia. However, the levy in Australia does not go to the shop, which I'm sure is what Tokyu Departo is doing with it. I don't think the point is to reduce waste. I think the point is to get people to dispose of it responsibly instead of dumping it in the oceans or on Mt. Fuji. Over wrapped foods are a part of the culture in Japan and I find it reassuring with all the food scandals of late. However, the use of plastics could be greatly reduced.
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outofmydepth
stop packing every little thing in loads and loads of packaging.
0
wanderlust
You've got to look at the distribution and storage networks too; some wrapping is there for protection in transit/ storage, as well as to avoid contamination. Local production/ distribution minimises this, but at a price, compared to centralised mass purchase and distribution.
It will take a paradigm shift in the whole manufacturing/ distribution/ sale/ consumption system before real savings are achieved.....which will hit sales and profits of manufacturers, distributors, sellers and of course those costs will be passed on to consumers.
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Lieutenant
Just throw less out, and put more on your balcony or under the tatami.
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Triumvere
Less goddamn packaging, please. My food items do not require being individually packaged, supported by a plastic tray, given an outer packaging, wraped in a plastic sheath, and then put in another plastic bag, thank you.
0
Farmboy
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rajakumar
Garbage must thrown out properly. All garbage that can be recycled should be recycled. Garbage should be made less smelly via various means.
Government and city halls to embark on educational programs to help us throw our garbage properly with less smell and more hygiene in our ways of disposal.
May be they should make some sprays/powders that can applied to smelly garbage to reduce smells.
It is bad smell that makes us hate garbage the most.
You can also grind your smelly left overs from fish/other stuffs and flush them into the seawage system so that our garbage does not smell so much.
There are many ways we can reduce smell of our garbage.
Garbage should be collected at faster intervals to prevent high decay in garbage bags. High decay promotes more smell.
There needs to be a new revolution in garbage disposing techniques via various new dynamic ideas.
We can use fish/other meat lefovers to make fertilisers via public compost heaps.
Practise waste not and want not philsophy in buying things, to reduce garbage and increase supplies of goodies for export.
0
Farmboy
I have to add here that charging 5 cents for a shopping bag has no effect on people who are on foot or on a bike, and stop off on the way home. For people in a car who can store a shopping bag, it might have some effect. For me, it's an extra cost, and I go elsewhere.
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Nessie
In that case, they should make the bags clear so that I can use them twice: once when I shop, and again when I need a trash bag at home. Charging for non-clear bags means you can only use them once.
And good points, Farmboy.
A more effective policy would be to train the staff to ask if customers need a bag, rather than supplying one automatically. In many cases, it's just something that does not occur to the customer.
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Schoolboyerror
Making it more expensive to throw rubbish away will not solve the problem - it will lead to more fly-tipping, as it did when the town hall where I used to live informed me that it would cost me 18 000 yen for them to come and collect my broken rice cooker.
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Lieutenant
Why don't they introduce a system where people throw out their garbage on certain days of the week e.g. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, for example. Then less will be thrown out each day, especially on the wrong day.
0
stipend
Will the amount of trash I put out make any difference? Will it reduce from 4 the number of times per week a belching truck rips raw the roads in my neighbourhood? Probably not. I'm sure they don't really need to collect the so called "burnables" twice a week. Do they? Here's what I do anyway:
Tip 1: Refuse garbage at source. Leave some of it with the retailer.
Tip 2: Carry a backpack or similar sized bag wherever you go.
Tip 3: Buy raw food. Processed = packaging (among other things)
Tip 4: Drink big beers!
Have your local sake shop bring over your very own case of beer in 900ml bottles. Let them know and they'll pop by with a new one as soon as you're done. Man, talk about convenient! And on top of that they'll be refilled.
Tip 5: Brew your own beer in the bottles the sake shop guy brought over the last time and save him the trip -but don't tell him because if your brew gets over 1% you'll be breaking the law! -ha-ha-ha.. yeah. Come bust me ;-)
0
stanoue
Disillusioned - not in NSW. I pay nada for bags. Also, they have made the supermarket bags thinner so, so now all they do is double bag.
I have some suggestions: drink tap water stop buying endless plastic bottles of water Never buy/order more food than you need or can eat - besides the food waste you throw away, there is whatever packaging etc that came in.
0
Good_Jorb
Vermicomposting(apartment friendly, if done right), water filter(no more bottled water), re-usable shopping bags, vinager and water in a spray bottle, pick and flick (who needs kleenex, j/k, maybe...), re-use what you can.
0
MikeBarrymore
Good Jorb- Ooooh what great ideas, well done.
Every little thing each of us does makes ahuge difference overall.
I never heat my pool now, and only turn on the lights when entertaining.
0
memyselfI
Plastic is a big problem, shredd it and use it for the roads in Japan. The roads are very bad in Japan. Everywhere i go . I see a pothole. Fill it up with reinforced plastic. Or whatever make water slides or recreational equipment from the plastic.
0
PuffinMuffin
make ppl eat it by making it edible. cant wait to hear them say 'oishii'
0
Pukey2
Get rid of these damn plastic trays - the ones used for shiitake, vegetables, noodles, etc. Plastic film covering uses far less resources. Plastic, in general, makes up more than half my garbage.
0
Pukey2
rajakumar:
Smell is not the biggest problem. VOLUME is. You can get rid of the smell, or at least reduce it, by use sprays or using two bags. And make use of those small plastic bags which are used in bakeries and used to hold vegetables at the supermarket.
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