Garb

For the last couple of months I've been meaning to blog about both the metro-subway-public transportation here and about garbage and recycling, and finally... I'm tackling one of these heavy hitters: garbage. Japan is one of a few countries that incinerates most of its garbage - up to 75% of it gets burned in facilities in and around the city. EEeeep. I remember the first time we went up the Tokyo Metropolitan building to look out over this massive sprawling city; we wondered where our place was in the 360 degree view. "OOH maybe over there" we said - by the white tower that protrudes up and over the river near our house.... And then we realized that there were white towers sticking up all over the place. There are 21 such towers in the city, and 21 incineration plants that burn garbage day and night, all year round. So about 75% of the garbage gets burned, and some 25% gets landfilled - mostly and most recently in Odaiba, the man-made island in Tokyo Bay. The island itself is built on garb.... kind of unbelievable. Anyways, so up until very recently, all garbage had to be sorted meticulously - in some places there are up to 40 something different categories for garbage and recycling, and "detailed instructions" are sent to citizens so that collectors and neighbors can rest (or collect) easy. Examples: one sock goes in the burnable pile, two socks (if they match) go in recycled cloth; a small kettle lands in small metals, but a big one must be sent to the bulky items stock. (This couldn't be any more different than Romania or Russia, where there is one category: GARBAGE that gets thrown anywhere and everywhere, recycling container garbage container or no container.) There are more categories, but with more advanced incineration technologies, most burnable items (including plastic, plastic foam and rubber) are fuel for the fire. Emission levels are closely monitored, and though the 1990s saw high levels of pollutants and dioxins, with new technology emissions are now (apparently) close to zero. And what does burning garbage produce? Smell? That would be my first guess, but at 8,500 degrees centigrade, stinky fumes are zapped. Burning refuse produces a few byproducts, including energy, ash, and some CO2. The energy from these plants fuels nearby recreation centers, lights homes and heats water, and the ash is used to make asphalt, bricks and concrete. It all sounds so sunny and nice and functional, but I wonder if there isn't something negative about this process. It is expensive. The plant in Toshima (northwest Tokyo) cost $140 million to build in 1997, and as far as operating costs, I have no idea.

So why aren't there more incinerators in North America? I know that we have a billion times more available land than a small country like Japan, but with a population that produces garbage like no other (well, except for the USA), you'd think that we'd have better ways to deal with it than landfilling. Canadians produce around 1.9kg of waste A DAY - Americans are the only ones to outdo us, coming in with 2.0 kg of dump every day. Eeeeeek.... and grossssss. A trip to the garbage dump is a strong motivator for more of a reduce-reuse-recycle lifestyle, and there are some people that argue that an incinerator might just burn up those triple-R habits - if it can be burned, why recycle? (Good question.) Apparently there are only seven incinerators in Canada, but a whole lot more vehement opposition to the idea of additional garbage-burners. The smell, the toxins, the dioxins etc. - but so why does it work in Japan? I assume that the technology must be too expensive, or that the problem isn't pressing enough to address immediately, otherwise we'd have more incinerators and less opposition at home. Regardless, we can all take steps to reduce the amount of garbage we produce - an effort I don't always see being made here. There is SO much packaging - the donut is wrapped in a bag and put in a bag, the baguette is wrapped in a paper bag and put in a bag with another bag in case you want to put it in the freezer. Busted - I am so busted. I buy baguettes and donuts, and that is my reference point. At least, in my basic Japanese, I say no thanks to the bag. But I sure will take that donut.

NY Times - How Do Japanese Dump Trash? Let us Count the Myriad Ways
Washington Post - Japan's Trash Technology Helps Deodorize Dumps in Tokyo
BC Business - Garbage to Burn