24 ms·

I wonder how much gas they burn getting all that stuff there. Seems more like a recycling fetish than anything worthwhile.

ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
The alternative is landfills which Japan does not have the space for.
- OscarCunningham 3y ago
  The space needed for landfills is negligible. Any country with room for farming has room for landfills.
  - snakeyjake 3y ago
    >Any country with room for farming has room for landfills. Japan does not have enough room for farming. Practically the entire countryside is dotted with farms and they still have to import over half of their food. "Japan has a severe shortage of arable land, covering only 11% of Japan’s total territory. The country’s self-sufficiency rate currently stands at 39%." https://www.eu-japan.eu/eubusinessinjapan/sectors/agroindustry https://www.eu-japan.eu/eubusinessinjapan/sectors/agroindust... For comparison, the US's self-sufficiency rate is well over 100%. Some "bread basket" nations like Ukraine, Argentina, and Australia have self-sufficiency rates over 200%.
    - kiba 3y ago
      How much is that for meat and feed?
      - snakeyjake 3y ago
        Not enough to make a difference. There’s a reason Japanese beef is the most expensive in the world.
  - ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
    So if it isn't to save land, why does Japan go through the effort to burn or recycle most of it's trash? Altruism?
    - ZeroGravitas 3y ago
      Even if you have the land to spare, burning (with energy recovery) and recycling are better on various environmental and economic axis.
      - ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
        Then why doesn't every country do it?
    - autoexec 3y ago
      > why does Japan go through the effort to burn or recycle most of it's trash? Altruism? Responsibility? Sanity? The real question is why do other countries just push the problem of their trash onto other poorer countries or destroy their own land with toxic trash heaps. Even if you have plenty of space to fill with garbage why wouldn't you want to keep it clean/unpolluted? No matter how much square footage my house has, I'm still going to put my trash in a bin and take it outside instead of throwing it on the carpet and sweeping it into a corner.
  - KevinMS 3y ago
    people have a hard time conceptualizing the real size of volume
- tocs3 3y ago
  And, things tend to get easier over time. Technique and technology may develop to make things go smoother. The reuse aspect of it is also (discussed in the auricle). I have seen lots of stuff brand new in packaging or tags still on them thrown in the garbage. Getting that stuff to people that want it is good. A lot of things that still have a lot of life left are thrown in the garbage. Even broken things can be for "parts or repair". And landfills, although useful, are just paying to store junk forever.
- jdietrich 3y ago
  The alternative is a more rational approach to recycling (automation-heavy sorting with a focus on metals and glass) combined with waste-to-energy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy
  - ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
    If you read the article most of the categories end up being burned as fuel.
    - autoexec 3y ago
      Japan burns a lot of trash. I just hope that they're filtering out whatever garbage would otherwise end up in the air after burning it all. If they don't they're just shifting the problem from trash piles on their land to air pollution which becomes everyone's problem. At one point 30% of the air pollution in California could be traced back to China.
skyyler 3y ago
How much gas is burned transporting your refuse to the landfill?
- KevinMS 3y ago
  considering that its all put in one big truck I'd assume its much more efficient than hundreds of cars and probably multiple trip for each
  - skyyler 3y ago
    IF you say so. It still feels like you're focusing on the consequences of their methods without considering the consequences of yours.
alex_c 3y ago
Fair point, but on the other hand I wonder how much stuff is reduced or reused - which are supposed to come before recycling - if residents feel the real cost of disposing of all this stuff.

ThrowawayTestr 3y ago

The alternative is landfills which Japan does not have the space for.

OscarCunningham 3y ago
The space needed for landfills is negligible. Any country with room for farming has room for landfills.
- snakeyjake 3y ago
  >Any country with room for farming has room for landfills. Japan does not have enough room for farming. Practically the entire countryside is dotted with farms and they still have to import over half of their food. "Japan has a severe shortage of arable land, covering only 11% of Japan’s total territory. The country’s self-sufficiency rate currently stands at 39%." https://www.eu-japan.eu/eubusinessinjapan/sectors/agroindustry https://www.eu-japan.eu/eubusinessinjapan/sectors/agroindust... For comparison, the US's self-sufficiency rate is well over 100%. Some "bread basket" nations like Ukraine, Argentina, and Australia have self-sufficiency rates over 200%.
  - kiba 3y ago
    How much is that for meat and feed?
    - snakeyjake 3y ago
      Not enough to make a difference. There’s a reason Japanese beef is the most expensive in the world.
- ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
  So if it isn't to save land, why does Japan go through the effort to burn or recycle most of it's trash? Altruism?
  - ZeroGravitas 3y ago
    Even if you have the land to spare, burning (with energy recovery) and recycling are better on various environmental and economic axis.
    - ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
      Then why doesn't every country do it?
  - autoexec 3y ago
    > why does Japan go through the effort to burn or recycle most of it's trash? Altruism? Responsibility? Sanity? The real question is why do other countries just push the problem of their trash onto other poorer countries or destroy their own land with toxic trash heaps. Even if you have plenty of space to fill with garbage why wouldn't you want to keep it clean/unpolluted? No matter how much square footage my house has, I'm still going to put my trash in a bin and take it outside instead of throwing it on the carpet and sweeping it into a corner.
- KevinMS 3y ago
  people have a hard time conceptualizing the real size of volume
tocs3 3y ago
And, things tend to get easier over time. Technique and technology may develop to make things go smoother. The reuse aspect of it is also (discussed in the auricle). I have seen lots of stuff brand new in packaging or tags still on them thrown in the garbage. Getting that stuff to people that want it is good. A lot of things that still have a lot of life left are thrown in the garbage. Even broken things can be for "parts or repair". And landfills, although useful, are just paying to store junk forever.
jdietrich 3y ago
The alternative is a more rational approach to recycling (automation-heavy sorting with a focus on metals and glass) combined with waste-to-energy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy
- ThrowawayTestr 3y ago
  If you read the article most of the categories end up being burned as fuel.
  - autoexec 3y ago
    Japan burns a lot of trash. I just hope that they're filtering out whatever garbage would otherwise end up in the air after burning it all. If they don't they're just shifting the problem from trash piles on their land to air pollution which becomes everyone's problem. At one point 30% of the air pollution in California could be traced back to China.

skyyler 3y ago

How much gas is burned transporting your refuse to the landfill?

KevinMS 3y ago
considering that its all put in one big truck I'd assume its much more efficient than hundreds of cars and probably multiple trip for each
- skyyler 3y ago
  IF you say so. It still feels like you're focusing on the consequences of their methods without considering the consequences of yours.

alex_c 3y ago

Fair point, but on the other hand I wonder how much stuff is reduced or reused - which are supposed to come before recycling - if residents feel the real cost of disposing of all this stuff.