Why do the Japanese attach notes to garbage bags, who they are for and what is written in them

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In a pandemic, people all over the world express their gratitude to doctors, volunteers, social workers, but there is another profession whose representatives are at risk. These are the ones who take out and sort the garbage every day. Self-isolating Tokyo residents express their gratitude to the janitors and garbage collection workers in an interesting way - in the form of anonymous messages that they attach to their waste bags or posters that are placed on the streets.

I'm just ready to cry

Since the beginning of the pandemic, in Tokyo's Koto district, janitors have found hundreds of such notes on garbage bags with words of support and gratitude since the beginning of the pandemic. Due to self-isolation, the amount of waste thrown out on the streets of the district increased by about 10%, and used masks, napkins and gloves were added to the usual garbage.

- It happens that the bags burst (for example, under the pressure of the press of the car or due to overheating), masks fall out of them, and this, of course, is scary, - an employee of the cleaning department of the Koto district Gundzi Yasuo told the FNN TV channel.

The townspeople are well aware of the risk these courageous people are now taking, and do not stop thanking them remotely.

- Thank you very much for working! - one resident of Tokyo wrote in her note and explained, - Thanks to those who clean up our garbage, we continue to live.

All messages received by Gundzi Yasuo are photographed on the phone, and he already has a decent collection.

- These notes inspire me and give me strength. In such difficult times, this is very important for us. Finding such messages, I'm almost ready to burst into tears, - he says.

Residents on self-isolation

Now in Tokyo, the adjacent prefectures and in Hokkaido, the emergency mode is relaxed. In the rest of the prefectures, it has been removed for now, but they are ready to announce it again if necessary.

- The mild emergency mode is the recommendations of the authorities to be less on the streets, as well as adjustments to the work of cafes and restaurants: many of them, by the decision of the owners themselves, work only for take-out, and those that are open to visitors accept them until 20.00. However, even more cafes and restaurants will open from this Monday, because in some prefectures the emergency regime will also be lifted, - say residents of Tokyo, - And also (which also applies to emergency situations) in connection with the decline in world prices for energy, we have been reducing prices since July for electricity and gas.

How Japan disposes of garbage

Separate waste collection has long been practiced in Japan, and this is not only related to environmental issues. During earthquakes, which are not uncommon here, things sometimes fly around the apartment (especially intensively on the upper floors), and when it comes to rubbish, this is not at all funny. Therefore, residents of apartment buildings have a practice to leave waste in special basements or basements, after which the packages are taken from there by employees of garbage collection companies.

With private houses, the situation is different: here residents sort and throw away garbage on days of the week. For example, in Western Tokyo, before the pandemic, it was customary to dump waste that must be incinerated on Mondays and Thursdays, glass, aluminum and disposable plastic bottles (PET plastic) on Tuesdays, batteries, old pots and used light bulbs on Wednesdays, and on Fridays - plastic waste. But due to the coronavirus, this schedule was slightly adjusted. PET bottles are now thrown away along with other types of plastic - on Fridays, and on Tuesdays - aluminum cans one week, and the next - waste paper and glass. Residents assume that this is due to the fact that the virus lives on different types of surfaces for different amounts of time.

And if before the pandemic, waste in this area of Tokyo was taken out strictly from 8 to 9 in the morning, now this happens only with garbage that must be incinerated. These are, first of all, bags with used masks, and they tend to burst when loaded into a press machine.

“For collectors, the days when the burnt waste is taken out are the most dangerous,” says one of the local residents. “In our area, workers used to use masks and gloves without fail, but now they also began to wear glasses protecting part of the face. The garbage collectors' overalls remained the same, but they were thoroughly washed and disinfected before the pandemic.

Such a thorough disinfection is associated with viruses, which can be carried by common rats and crows. These inhabitants of Tokyo go out "hunting" at 5-8 am (when the townspeople begin to take out the garbage) in search of food remnants that make up most of the "incinerated" waste, and sometimes in the morning on the streets of the city you can find traces of such an invasion - scattered near the points of export rubbish.

Signs for the irresponsible

Alas, not everyone in the city is responsible for sorting waste and respecting the work of garbage collectors.

- Several private houses are being built in our area. One is already being built very close to ours. So local video cameras detected how workers were throwing drinks bottles into our baskets. And sometimes they just collect food packages in a bag and put them in our place for collecting waste, - say the inhabitants of one of the houses, - Imagine, they are too lazy to drag garbage with them, then to throw it away according to the rules! But it is not known where these builders are, where they are from and what viruses they can carry. By the way, they go without masks and gloves. And municipal services are not a decree to them.

For a while, local residents turned a blind eye to this. And then they put up a sign "Place for rubbish - only for those who live in the house." This warning hints at the presence of a video camera. After all, it is known that if a person is caught in such a violation and the camera confirms this, he can be fined about 30 thousand yen (about 300 dollars). And in a pandemic, he may also be accused of spreading the coronavirus (after all, there is no guarantee that such an intruder is not infected).

Similar warning signs can be seen near other private homes in Tokyo.

“It is very important to call the builders to order, because the danger in this case exists not only for us, but also for the workers of the utilization services,” say the Tokyo residents.

Who goes to the wipers and garbage collectors

If in Moscow, as a rule, visitors from the countries of Central Asia go to the wipers, then in Tokyo most of the Japanese are engaged in this. The garbage collector here is a pretty high-paying job. And those who go to it are mainly those who have completed nine classes (compulsory for a citizen of the country "high-school") and did not go to higher educational institutions. Among the janitors, there are both Tokyo and people from the provinces, and after the recent adoption of the law on migrant workers, foreigners began to appear.

However, according to the observed trend, fewer and fewer Japanese want to work as garbage collectors, still trying to go to colleges and universities.