Yes, amazing how Japan manages waste. On our first trip in 2010 we had to separate all our waste into 6 different bins. Not that hard to do.
I wonder if changing our strategy with how we manage our own waste might drive change.
It is possible and sensible for the end user to sort or segregate all our waste first. Simpler to do this at source rather than just fill up the recycling bin.
The second part of the change process would be to do away with the recycling bin. Everything we recycle we have brought home from a shop. After making use of the contents the volume and mass left over is a fraction of each shop. Have the shops doing the selling become the collection point. And hold them responsible for the next step. All we need to do is remember to take it with us next time to the shops.
It would be in the best interests of the sellers then to minimise packaging and maximise waste recovery.
Such a strategy still allows for deposits refund schemes. Government can also set the cost bar higher for waste to burial/landfill if needed to discourage easy dumping.
The current business friendly strategy places the primary ownership of the problems and financial burden of recycling on the end user, IE the customers. That something is expensive to recycle or difficult to recycle does not cost the retailer/manufacturer.
Once upon a time we had a similar good system for milk and coke etc. We have since lost reusable glass bottles for milk, soft drink etc. There is a handling and cleaning cost to reuse. More critically paper and plastic containers are low cost to produce. Glass containers also take up valuable shipping volume and add weight increasing freight costs substantially. Food manufacturers had a windfall profit increase when they swapped to plastic and cardboard alternatives. This is where the change needs to be?
