Wicked Waste Management

First of all, is anyone else picturing Geddy Lee singing "Defying Gravity" on the next Tony's? It would be good for everyone.

I was in Japan last month and there are striking differences how they manage waste vs. the US. I saw exactly zero public garbages in Tokyo, though consuming beverages in single-serve containers is now common. The message is compound: on one hand, anything you carry is YOUR responsibility to dispose of properly; on the other, don't create a lot of trash b/c it winds up in your pocket. All their trash is separated into combustible and non-combustible, often with a third bin for food waste. Though they may not recycle with any more functionality than in the US, the public is used to a system in which waste is treated with care and sensitivity...that is, they're sensitive to the fact that the 9-volt battery and paper coffee cup they hold in their hand go different places in the afterlife. Every Starbucks and Tully's Coffee offer for-here beverages in ceramic cups, which has become rare in my experience in the US.

There are vending machines that sell everything from bottled water to hot coffee in aluminum or PET containers. These machines are found everywhere, in every corner of every street and alley they can stuff them. There are recycling bins by each of the numerous vending machines with holes just big enough to fit the cans in which the proprietary beverages are sold. We tried to stuff our Venti caramel crap in there...it fits, but we shamed our country in the process. I was struck by my eventual discovery that the beverage companies themselves were collecting the contents of these bins! On top of the Suntory or Asahi delivery trucks there are little corrals (in the US, I've seen similar setups contain baby strollers or deer carcasses) and the guys just toss the clear plastic bags full of cans up there. Of course, the truth of this comment rests on my assumption that they were not just throwing these bags into the river on their way back to the bottling center.

Editor's note: portions of this post are also published on No Impact Man