Disposing sanitary napkins

How does one dispose of sanitary pads in Japan? Under what type of trash is it? Combustable? Incombustable?

Ask at your local yakusho, the place you did your foreign registeration. Same thing for any kind of waste.

For public health and safety, especially stuff that is soiled.

Wrappers and so on can go moenai gomi, do like Uco said.

Where I lived, if something was plastic, it was moenai gomi, but I was never questioned about putting sanitary napkins, etc. in burnable garbage.

If you burn chemicals, it seems harmful for the environment. But if you don't burn them, it will pile up in some waste island and sooner or later your country will be filled with waste, and before treatment catches up, the piled waste will start producing polution and damage the earth. So either way, it's not good.

Many cities however, like the city of Yokohama, claims that their incineration plant produces heat high enough to prevent harmful gas such as dioxine (that's what they say. I didn't build it). That's why they let you burn everything.

But if you really are concerned about waste problems, there are non-disposal sanitary napkins available from environmental groups. But then, when you wash them, you will be using more water and draining soap into it, even though you use 100 % natural soap.

The guidebook they gave out at the yakusho didn't say. It's not categorised. It's not that easy to ask people face-to-face about such questions ne? Less embarrassing here I guess. Anyway, I thought it's under the moeru gomi too. I just don't wanna do the wrong thing and be cursed for being a stupid ignorant gaijin.

You can phone the yakusho and ask for an English speaker, or send an email through their official website. If you can tell me which city and ward you live in, I can find the website for you.

I know those leaflets don't tell you all the details, but I'm afraid it really depends on the district. But in any case, you are allowed to, and it is a curtesy to, dispose sanitary napkins in non-transparant bags before putting them in the more transparent ones with the other rubbish, so no neighbor will notice even if you're doing the wrong thing.

The best thing is to become friends with your female neighbors and ask.

Hmmm try and donate them to the local swimming pool... sounds odd huh? but there's this swimming pool nearby me which uses waste products like your sanitary pads , to heat the swimming pool in the winter. I'm sure you can find one around where you live.

I think it depends on where you live.

In my case, I can dispose them with combustibles rubbish.

If you can ask your neighbor about rubbish, it is better I think.

So what if you're living in Nagoya, does anyone know if sanitary napkins are in moeru gomi? and if so do we need to put it in non-transparent bags first as was mentioned before?

Gajin2, and all foreign residents in Japan, if you don't speak Japanese, simply contact the counter where you did your foreign registeration, and they will be able to provide the accurate info.

Otherwise, check the official website of your district to see if the info is in there. This is the one for Nagoya City;
http://www.city.nagoya.jp/