Overwhelmed with packages?

I am getting overwhelmed with all the packaging that I come across daily. Like gift boxes and gift paper bags. I already try to recycle all the trays, bottles, glass, steel and aluminum cans, and I reuse plastic bags. But I can't keep up. I tried to recycle plastic, but no collection near our home, so it is too inconvenient. How do you all deal with it all? I feel so guilty just throwing it in the garbage.

You can try going shopping with your own shopping bag - "my bag" as it is called in Japan. Supermarkets are promoting people bringing in their own shopping bags, and convenience stores are happy if you tell them you don't need the plastic bag. At least this will rid you of all the flimsy shopping bags.

Department stores - they tend to wrap things in layers, but you can also tell them you don't need all that. "Kan'i housou de onegaishimasu" (Please use simple/simplified wrapping) would get you somewhere.


Recycling aluminum cans, PET bottles (or try not buy too many of them), and milk cartons, newspapers, etc., helps too.

When it comes to other packaging that the goods already come wrapped in - all you can do is buy those with the minimum packaging :)

Plastic is not recycled in all areas in Japan; some municipalities simply encourage people to put them into "burnable" bin so that they can increase the volume of burnable garbage (including kitchen garbage and paper) and generate more energy from the incineration.

As AK suggests, the best thing to do is not take it back home with you. Every year more and more supermarkets are charging for plastic bags so you may as well get into the habit now.

In Kyoto, trash bags and recycling bags are standardized and quite expensive (450 yen for 10 trash bags, 75 yen for 5 recycling bags) so people take trash reduction quite seriously.

In addition to taking your own shopping bag, you can take your own containers to purchase produce at a supermarket or take out at a restaurant (Ohsho charges for containers when you order takeout if you don't bring your own), get filtered water (with reusable 4L jugs) from a drug store or supermarket, boil your own tea, etc.

You should be able to avoid almost everything in a plastic bottle, you don't need plastic bags, and you can avoid the styrofoam packaging.
If you live in an environment that supports it and want to take it a step further, start your own mini-garden to grown your own veggies and a worm compost (very cheap, easy and effective) to process food waste.

Challenge yourself to go "eco" see what works for you!

MomotaroPeachBoy,

I just wanted you to know that I know exactly what you mean.

For more than 20 years, I have been trying my best not to accept shopping bags and I have been trying my best to recycle and I travel far and make phone calls just to find recycle bins or to donate used items, but I have never been able to get rid of the 3 shelves worth of plastic and paper bags at home. It makes me feel so guilty.

But then, I notice that the guilt is killing me, and being sick is not good for the planet. So I am trying my best to accept myself for throwing away bags and plastic once in a while.

I see that you're getting a lot of gifts. Do you think there is a special reason for that? If it's the regular o-chugen, it's only seasonal. You can also try sending thank you cards back, and while you're at it, you can politely request the sender to stop gifting in the future.

Uco-san,

I don't think the original poster means really "gift" boxes. I think I had the same feeling when I came back to Japan after a few years overseas - goods, any product, are wrapped excessively in Japan :)

You buy a package of pantyhose, then you end up with sturdy, good quality plastic outside, then the paper inside with the product description, then another sheet of paper between the folded hosiery to keep them in shape... and if you happen to buy that at a department store, they put it into a flat paperbag first, then put it into a paperbag with handles... in some other countries (at least), pantyhose (of certain grades) are just squashed into a flimsy plastic bag, and that's it. You just throw it into your own plastic bag at the cashier.

You buy a T-shirt, then they will fold it, put it into a neat plastic bag flat, then put it in a paperbag with handles again. :) I think this is the sort of things the OP is talking about...

Thanks for all your responses. It's really everything. We get gifts from all different customers (from the family company) for various different reasons so it's often a one time deal, not something we can do anything about and not coming from just a few of the same customers over and over.

Then yes, there is that general packing with all the cardboard, plastic, wrapping, ribbons, bags, etc. just for one item.

I have already started some time ago to bring my own bags when shopping, so that has helped a whole lot!

Right now, I'm looking at all the really nice handle bags that the gift boxes came in. I neatly folded them all and feel they are still in excellent shape, such a waste to throw it out when it can be used probably several more times before getting a used-look. But I don't need so many. They just keep piling up. Plus all the boxes take up so much room.

I did ask at city hall about recycling and they told me a place I could go to drop paper and plastic and and the other bottles off once a week in the morning. But trouble is, I have a toddler and can't get around to it. Way too inconvenient since I'd have to drive there before 9 am.

I also discovered there is a closer neighborhood drop off just for plastic, but that too is inconvenient because our building is not really in that neighborhood, so I'd have to walk a distance. I wonder if it being a drop off (rather than say, at the store where there are burnable bins) that it means it is recycled?

I am in the midst of cleaning up and there is no space to keep it all, but when it comes down to throwing it away, I just feel so guilty and then end up keeping it after all. I guess I am hoping to find some solution. At least for the gift bags with handles, I wonder if any kind of company could make use of it?

Thanks AK and MomotaroPeachBoy.

MomotaroPeachBoy wrote;
"I wonder if it being a drop off (rather than say, at the store where there are burnable bins) that it means it is recycled?"

It's natural to assume that drop offs recycle. But actually, you need to keep in mind that a lot of plastic is still incinerated.

For example, in Yokohama City where I live, they have a very powerful incinerator. When we moved here in 1990, they used to dump and burn everything in there, later on building a pool and bath facility to utilize the energy. But soon, Yokohama started running out of landfill sites to dump the ashes and they had to start building new ones by ruining the sea and spending our taxes. So, while incineration produces energy, in order to prevent unnecessary construction, the city decided to reduce waste by recycling all they can. In reality however, at the selection site, a lot of plastic is sent for incineration especially if it has a lot of food or oil on it.

As for the pretty bags, you can use them to put your own gifts in it. In order to do so, you can try to give away more gifts to more people. For example, if you receive a box full of fruits or beer, it is quite customary to put a couple of them in a pretty bag and bring it to your neighbor's door to see if they are willing to share it. This not only gets rid of your unwanted items, but also helps you to socialize.

You can also give away a bunch of bags to anyone who is doing a flea market. Or anyone who socializes on a daily basis might be short on bags.

Either way, paper bags can be recycled along with other used paper such as magazines, and plastic bags can be recycled with other used plastic, so you have to give them up at one point or another.

I also hope you know that you can request 簡易包装 (kan-i-housou), in other words "simple wrapping" when purchasing goods by yourself. You can do this when mail-ordering, too. By the way, much to my surprize, a mail-order shop once gave me a phone call just to make sure if I meant "make the wrapping simple" or "wrap it simply as a present," and since then I try to write エコで簡単な包装にしてください (please make the packaging simple and eco-friendly).

Lastly, like how it has been in Yokohama, if you keep on sending suggestions to the municipal and the people who are concerned, your local district might start recycling in the near future. But still, the only definitely good thing about recycling is that it reduces the amount of waste that goes for landfill. Recycling still uses the planet's energy.