If you get fed up with dealing with two or three recycling bins, think how it is for the residents of Kamikatsu, the town in Japan that recycles absolutely everything. As a result, the town is totally zero waste, and people make a concerted effort not to buy stuff they don’t need, or else they would have to spend all their spare time sorting it out for different bins, at end of use.
This town is so litter-free that it has more tourists arrive to see what they are doing, than it has residents. All waste materials are composted or upcycled, there’s a ‘free’ second-hand shop so people can come and help themselves to other people’s donated items, and there is even a local building with discarded windows, where you can bring reusable bottles, to fill up with local craft beer. The 45 recycling categories include:
- Cans (aluminium, steel, aerosol, metal caps)
- Glass (clear, white, coloured, sake bottles)
- Batteries
- Light bulbs (3 types) plus broken ones
- Plastic trays & bottles
- Clothing
- Milk and juice packs
- Cardboard and newspaper and magazines
- Chopsticks
- Cigarette lighters
- Nappies
- Cooking oil
- Ash
- Tyres
- Furniture
- White goods
- Food waste
- Garden waste
- Agricultural waste
