3 ms·

> The problem to solve is that no one wants to carry a cup around for longer than necessary. Buy, drink, dispose. This is a cultural problem. Women carry arou

> The problem to solve is that no one wants to carry a cup around for longer than necessary. Buy, drink, dispose. This is a cultural problem. Women carry around handbags that are jammed to the brim with junk. Men don't generally carry handbags at all. There is no place to put a cup. In Japan there are virtually no trashcans and people are culturally taught not to litter, so everybody has to carry their trash home with them. There is even a movement to disallow workers from using trash bins at work! When I worked at the local high school, I was forced to take all my trash home at the end of each day. In that kind of environment, you naturally start to carry bags to store stuff until you can get home. Now I have a handbag that I carry with me everywhere. Usually it contains my wallet, my cell phone, a cloth shopping bag and any garbage I happen to have. It's pretty normal here, I think. If reusable drink containers were available, I don't think it would be long until all bags had "cup holders" in them. But first you need to have a "take your trash home" culture. It's taken Japan decades to make that work. It's not impossible, but it takes time.

rorykoehler 8y ago
Yes it is a cultural problem and as we all know they are the hardest to overcome. If we want to make headway we need to start somewhere else and work on culture in the background. In Germany the pfand system has been working well for years. In Berlin you leave your bottle on the side walk and someone who needs the money can collect it to return it. It's a small act of charity that people regularly engage in. I believe it's the same in NYC from what I saw when visiting?
fiblye 8y ago
Yet Japan is possibly the worst in the world when it comes to plastic waste. They often divide every 2 items from the convenience store into separate bags. Hell, it’s the land of individually plastic wrapped bite sized cookies served in an oversized plastic tray inside a bag with box outside of it. As an even worse real life example, if you buy a slice of cake and tell them you’ll be eating it in 5 minutes, they get out a laminated box for a slice that can be eaten in 2 bites, insert a plastic ice pack, wrap the box in a tight layer of plastic, tape it, then put that inside a plastic bag large and sturdy enough to carry 2 toddlers. Just for a slice of cake I’ll eat almost immediately. Explain to them you don’t need it, and they can’t comprehend that you’d eat 5 minute warmed cake and do it anyways. America at least has reusable water bottles and fountains for them in many places. I’ve yet to see such a thing in Japan. People would probably not want to use it because they’d fear it’s unsanitary. Except for some EU countries, America is way ahead of the curve here.
- mikekchar 8y ago
  Yep. No argument here. It's all cultural :-P The silliest thing is that plastic bags are not offered in most grocery stores now, but if you pull out your cloth bag in a combini it's a revelation :-) I'm well known in my town for being the foreigner who uses his cloth bag in the combini. Honestly, I'm certain people have them, but they are too embarrassed to use them! I keep using mine in hopes that someone else will follow suit, but it hasn't happened yet. Some day everyone will switch and it will be "Well, of course. It's obvious", but until that day, nobody will...

rorykoehler 8y ago

Yes it is a cultural problem and as we all know they are the hardest to overcome. If we want to make headway we need to start somewhere else and work on culture in the background. In Germany the pfand system has been working well for years. In Berlin you leave your bottle on the side walk and someone who needs the money can collect it to return it. It's a small act of charity that people regularly engage in. I believe it's the same in NYC from what I saw when visiting?

fiblye 8y ago

Yet Japan is possibly the worst in the world when it comes to plastic waste. They often divide every 2 items from the convenience store into separate bags. Hell, it’s the land of individually plastic wrapped bite sized cookies served in an oversized plastic tray inside a bag with box outside of it. As an even worse real life example, if you buy a slice of cake and tell them you’ll be eating it in 5 minutes, they get out a laminated box for a slice that can be eaten in 2 bites, insert a plastic ice pack, wrap the box in a tight layer of plastic, tape it, then put that inside a plastic bag large and sturdy enough to carry 2 toddlers. Just for a slice of cake I’ll eat almost immediately. Explain to them you don’t need it, and they can’t comprehend that you’d eat 5 minute warmed cake and do it anyways. America at least has reusable water bottles and fountains for them in many places. I’ve yet to see such a thing in Japan. People would probably not want to use it because they’d fear it’s unsanitary. Except for some EU countries, America is way ahead of the curve here.

mikekchar 8y ago
Yep. No argument here. It's all cultural :-P The silliest thing is that plastic bags are not offered in most grocery stores now, but if you pull out your cloth bag in a combini it's a revelation :-) I'm well known in my town for being the foreigner who uses his cloth bag in the combini. Honestly, I'm certain people have them, but they are too embarrassed to use them! I keep using mine in hopes that someone else will follow suit, but it hasn't happened yet. Some day everyone will switch and it will be "Well, of course. It's obvious", but until that day, nobody will...