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The Japanese philosophy for a no-waste world

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Re: The Japanese philosophy for a no-waste world

#21

Post by imp0cat »

totetsu wrote: post #16
smcl wrote: post #15

One of the things that stood out to me last time I visited Japan was how much packaging everything has, and how few bins there are around. It is cool that there's one community that values not letting things to go waste and the story itself is very cute. But "the Japanese philosophy" regarding waste to me seemed to be: produce a lot of it, and burn it. Europe may not be much better in producing, consuming, recycling…

Yes it drive me crazy.

They actually started installing public trash bins in Osaka recently, the pedal-operated kind. See Rion Ishida's video here: https://youtu.be/Bg2OQT-g0JA?t=2129

Re: The Japanese philosophy for a no-waste world

#22

Post by imp0cat »

jansan wrote: post #17
quicklime wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve lived in Japan too and agree that they have a lot of plastic packaging on products. But from what I can tell they still produce far less plastic waste per capita than Americans (about half, before disposal/recycling/incineration): https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/plastic-waste-per-capita

How is that counted? The last time I was in Japan they still separated "burnable" and "non-burnable" waste. So if you burn the plastic, does it still count as waste? IMO plastic is not that bad if it gets recycled or used as fuel source in power plants instead of becoming landfill.

They have so much plastic waste that they use it to build new islands in Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yumenoshima

Re: The Japanese philosophy for a no-waste world

#23

Post by syntaxing »

ensignavenger wrote: post #20
quicklime wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve lived in Japan too and agree that they have a lot of plastic packaging on products. But from what I can tell they still produce far less plastic waste per capita than Americans (about half, before disposal/recycling/incineration): https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/plastic-waste-per-capita

Maybe we have more industrial plastic waste than Japan? My experiences in Japan are that they use many times more plastic packaging on products than we jse in the US. I find this data extremely hard to believe.

If I had to guess, it’s probably we (as in the US) consumes more. One takeout meal for my family is probably more plastic in weight than your grocery runs. My plastic foldable table is probably your annual amount. While it seems wasteful, plastic bags are very minimal compared to other items.

Re: The Japanese philosophy for a no-waste world

#24

Post by gomox »

ensignavenger wrote: post #20
quicklime wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve lived in Japan too and agree that they have a lot of plastic packaging on products. But from what I can tell they still produce far less plastic waste per capita than Americans (about half, before disposal/recycling/incineration): https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/plastic-waste-per-capita

Maybe we have more industrial plastic waste than Japan? My experiences in Japan are that they use many times more plastic packaging on products than we jse in the US. I find this data extremely hard to believe.

Although I agree that Japan uses lots of plastic everywhere, I can see how the sheer size of stuff in the US can easily offset for that. The average American man weighs 50% more than the average Japanese man (200 lbs vs. 135). The average househould trash container in the US is the size of a garbage truck in Japan (being dramatic with this one, but less than you'd think).

Re: The Japanese philosophy for a no-waste world

#26

Post by tkgally »

smcl wrote: post #15

One of the things that stood out to me last time I visited Japan was how much packaging everything has, and how few bins there are around. It is cool that there's one community that values not letting things to go waste and the story itself is very cute. But "the Japanese philosophy" regarding waste to me seemed to be: produce a lot of it, and burn it. Europe may not be much better in producing, consuming, recycling…

> how few bins there are around

Rubbish bins were common in railway stations and other public places until the sarin terrorist attacks on the Tokyo subway in 1995, after which most were removed for security reasons. Trashcans are a bit more common now than they were in the first few years after those attacks, but they can indeed still be hard to find. Just a couple of days ago, I was surprised to spot a garbage can on the sidewalk on Omotesando. I had a used facemask in my pocket, so I dropped it in.

Re: The Japanese philosophy for a no-waste world

#27

Post by gomox »

kleene_op wrote: post #10
asutekku wrote: post #6

I know these Japan stories for Americans might be awe-inspiring, but man if there isn't crap loads of waste from all the products they sell here. Yesterday during my grocery shopping each individual glass container product got its own separate paper bag, meat was given a plastic bag even thought it was already wrapped in plastic and my juices got another plastic bag. Even the wines I got were given this plastic wrap,…

I still have the mental image of that SINGLE banana wrapped in plastic in a random 7-11 I went to during my trip to Japan a few months ago. Hard to keep a straight face reading that headline with that image burned in my mind.

Individually shrink-wrapped fruit is also a thing in the US (and in every airport in the world, probably). But I haven't seen these [0] in the US.

[0] https://ibeantravelling.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/6e290558...

Re: The Japanese philosophy for a no-waste world

#28

Post by ramraj07 »

ensignavenger wrote: post #20
quicklime wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve lived in Japan too and agree that they have a lot of plastic packaging on products. But from what I can tell they still produce far less plastic waste per capita than Americans (about half, before disposal/recycling/incineration): https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/plastic-waste-per-capita

Maybe we have more industrial plastic waste than Japan? My experiences in Japan are that they use many times more plastic packaging on products than we jse in the US. I find this data extremely hard to believe.

Go to Costco in Texas and watch the literal pallets of bottled water the people cart into their trucks. They make up for entire Japanese towns probably.

Re: The Japanese philosophy for a no-waste world

#30

Post by [deleted] »

imp0cat wrote: post #22
jansan wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that counted? The last time I was in Japan they still separated "burnable" and "non-burnable" waste. So if you burn the plastic, does it still count as waste? IMO plastic is not that bad if it gets recycled or used as fuel source in power plants instead of becoming landfill.

They have so much plastic waste that they use it to build new islands in Japan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yumenoshima

[deleted]
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