Which garbage goes out today?

This is the post you have all been waiting for. I know - I can hear you clamoring for it clear across the ocean. Everyone is asking each other, “Sure, teaching is great, but I want to know the really important question: What is the garbage collection like in Japan?”

No? Well, you should be. It’s very interesting and fun ... Okay, maybe fun isn’t exactly the precise word, but trying to remember the garbage collection days every week keeps me on my toes.

Yes, days, as in plural.

Even as I write this, I am trying to remember what category goes out today. The system in Tokushima (and Tokyo and probably the whole of Japan), is complicated enough to require a pictorial calendar.

Garbage collection days from April through Sepetember

Yes, a pictoral calendar. Shown here:

There are six different categories, each with its own pick-up day. 

For example, those are newspapers on the second Thursday of each month.

Bottles and cans are the green symbol.

Plastic wrappings and bags would be the yellow symbol.

Clarifying what belongs where.

Garbage is divided into two categories: burnable and non-burnable. Burnable includes kitchen scraps and paper, so it goes out twice a week.

As you can see, there’s even a day for books. In Tokyo, there was a day for old clothes, as well, but Tokushima does not appear to off that option. 

Garbage cans in Japan are usually long receptacles divided into two or three sections, nicely labeled for ease of use. Unfortunately, we don’t have one of those, so we have an almost organised system of four plastic bags next to the fridge. Milk cartons and other boxes are washed, flattened and hidden in the entryway cupboard.

Today nothing goes out, and that rarely happens. Good - that means I can stay in my pajamas just a little bit longer!