Politics of Garbage in Japan

Many who come to Japan often wonder, “What is the deal here with the garbage cans?!” You can walk for many kilometers without seeing a single garbage can. At that, surprisingly, you almost never see garbage lying around on the streets. So what is the deal with Japan and garbage?

There are seems to be more than one explanation for the lack of trash cans on the streets, and I will mention two of them. Some say that garbage cans were removed as one of the precautions against terrorist attacks. After sarin attack in subways of Tokyo in 1995*, lockers and garbage cans were sealed and removed as a potential bomb hiding places. However, I was not able to find a source stating that for the same reason garbage cans were removed on the streets and in the parks. Moreover, it seems that trash cans disappeared from public places before 1995. The second explanation, that seems the most reasonable to me, is Japanese recycling system. Japan (standing next to Germany) has one of the best recycling systems in the world. Japanese sort their garbage by PET bottles (with caps and labels removed), plastic, burnable, glass, aluminum, and sometimes more categories exist. To keep up this system, whenever placing a garbage can, the city would need to set up at least 3 or 4 types which is an additional expanse that the cities perhaps are not willing to pay for.

You may think, “But isn’t it necessary? Wouldn’t people otherwise throw their garbage wherever they stand thereby littering the streets?” Apparently not in Japan. Japanese, as good citizens, carry their garbage with them and then recycle it when they get home. There are certainly many reasons for this phenomenon, which make a great topic for a separate discussion. Here I will only mention that it is part of Japanese philosophy to comply with rules, do what is the best for society, and think of the consequences. It could be a part of collective thinking. In individualistic countries people may think “If I don’t litter, somebody else will, so my action won’t make a difference” or “No one litters here so if I will this one or two times, it will not make a difference,” hence everyone thinks just in terms of themselves. In Japan, on the other hand, people tend to think, “If everyone will litter, streets will become dirty, and neither I nor others will enjoy it; so I will not litter even if it makes an inconvenience for me right now to carry my garbage with me.” The same philosophy may also apply to recycling.

To sum up, the garbage politics in Japan are as follows. The absence of trash cans on the streets of Japan seems to be partially caused by recycling system which is essential and well-developed in this country. However, despite the lack of garbage cans, littering is not an issue which may be explained by Japanese collective psychology.

* For more information see: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e9ERAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rewDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6553,2434296

References:

Olmsted, J. 2007. Japan’s recycling: more efficient than U.S.A. http://www.unwstout.edu/rs/2007/Recycling.pdf

"The Deseret News. - Archive Search." Google News. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e9ERAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rewDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6553,2434296.

"Garbage in Japan." Bonsai Superstar. http://bonsai-superstar.blogspot.com/2007/08/garbage.html.

"The Philosophy of Garbage and Japan." EzineArticles Submission - Submit Your Best Quality Original Articles For Massive Exposure, Ezine Publishers Get 25 Free Article Reprints. http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Philosophy-of-Garbage-and-Japan&id=2103972.