Sorting and Taking Out Trash/Garbage

Yaaay team April 15, 2024

Woman in White and Green Shirt Holding Yellow Plastic Bag

The rules for trash/garbage disposal in Japan are tedious even for Japanese people. At the same time, this is an essential part of being a contributing member of your local community. In this column, we will explain the basic rules for sorting and taking out trash/garbage.

Types and classification

Each municipality in Japan has its own rules on how to separate trash. That being said, all of them follow roughly the same patterns. The four basic trash categories in Japan are:
・Burnable trash (燃えるゴミ moeru gomi or 可燃ごみ kanen gomi)
・Non-burnable trash (燃えないゴミ moenai gomi or 不燃ゴミ funen gomi)
・PET bottles (ペットボトル, petto botoru) / plastic bottles
・Oversized trash (粗大ゴミ, sodai gomi)

Burnable trash contains all sorts of paper or fabric, cardboard, packaging, and plastic wrappings. Some municipalities have special categories for plastics or certain types of paper (like cardboard or old newspapers).

Kitchen waste also falls under this category – usually, there is no extra category for compostables. Make sure to remove as much water as possible from your kitchen leftovers to prevent unpleasant smells.

Non-burnable trash, like the name says, is for everything that doesn’t burn (easily). Examples are glassware, metals (empty food cans, scissors, pans, tableware), ceramics like plates and cups/mugs, and lightbulbs.
Some areas and apartments have specialized collecting areas for food/drink cans and glass bottles, respectively.
PET bottles/plastic bottles are their own category and don’t count as regular plastics. However, this only applies to the bottles themselves. The cap and labels of the bottles belong into the burnable or plastic trash, depending on where you live. To prevent smell, rinse out the bottles before removing the cap.

Oversized trash

The oversized trash category is for everything that doesn’t fit into a regular trash bag. As a rule of thumb, trash is considered oversized if it’s longer than 30cm (for metals) or 40-50cm (for paper, wood etc.) on any one side, but exceptions may apply.

To have your oversized trash collected, you have to arrange an appointment. You can do this by calling your local trash collecting center. When not sure who to call, check your municipality’s website or ask directly at the city office.

In addition to making an appointment, you also have to pay a per-item fee. How much you have to pay depends on the size of the item. After checking how much you have to pay on your municipality’s website, go to a supermarket or convenience store, get a disposal ticket (shori-ken, 処理券) for each of your items. These tickets are stickers that you attach to your garbage before the collection day.

Taking out the trash

Garbage is usually collected only once per day, in the morning. The deadline for taking out trash is between 8 and 9 AM.
Because of limited space, apartments that don’t have a dedicated, large-size trash collection area ask their tenants to take out the trash on the morning of the collection day. Leaving bags outside overnight can attract crows and other wild animals and cause the garbage to become strewn all over the street.
Different trash categories have different collection days – for example, burnable trash might be due on Mondays and non-burnable trash on Thursdays.

It's tedious, but necessary

Trash/garbage sorting can be a daunting task, and it's not an exaggeration to say that it's a burden for Japanese people as well. However, to live harmoniously as members of the community, it's important to follow the rules while considering the people in the neighborhood. 
Those rules will vary depending on the area where you reside. Be sure to check them in your area, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask for help from your landlord or colleagues.