Everyday
How to sort your trash in Japan
Rubbish splits into several streams, public bins are scarce, and the rules shift from town to town. This is the baseline to work from.
- 1Separate into the main streams: burnable (燃えるゴミ — food scraps, most paper), non-burnable (plastics/small metal, depending on the town), and recyclables: PET bottles, cans, glass bottles.
- 2Rinse out bottles and cans before recycling. For PET bottles, take off the cap and the label — those go with plastics, the clear bottle on its own.
- 3Find the right bin. Convenience stores and stations have a set of sorted bins; street bins are rare, especially since drinks and bottles get sorted separately.
- 4No bin around? Carry it. Locals routinely take trash home or to the next conbini rather than leave it.
Heads up. Public bins are genuinely hard to find, and the categories differ by municipality — what's 'burnable' in one city isn't in the next. When unsure, follow the pictures on the bin.