At a recycling plant outside Tokyo, workers in face masks pick through an unending torrent of plastic rubbish, fuelled by a national obsession with pristine packaging -- and famously strict rules that ensure much of it is reclaimed and reused.

Some 10 tonnes of recyclable plastics are brought in every day to be processed at the Ichikawa Kankyo Engineering centre, where workers hover over conveyor belts removing any stray items or contaminants.

The plastic is then compressed and squeezed into huge "bales", moved around by forklift trucks into large hangars.

Critics charge that Japanese consumers and retailers use too much plastic, as a mania for elaborate packaging results in almost everything being wrapped -- even single pieces of fruit.

There is no national legislation banning single-use plastics, and penalties or disincentives for using plastic bags are rare.

But Japan also has complicated and strictly enforced rules on separating waste to help maximise the reuse and recycling of garbage.

Local governments across Tokyo and the rest of Japan each have their own rules on how residents must separate their waste, producing flowcharts that explain which items fit into which category.

Plastics are separated from cans, paper and other recyclables, with collections for different categories on different days of the week.

Most at a minimum have categories for burnable, unburnable, recyclable and plastics, with many also requiring people to separate out cardboard and different types of plastic.

That ensures more than one fifth of plastic waste is recycled in Japan and the majority of the rest is burned either as fuel, or to generate power or heat, according to the Plastic Waste Management Institute.

Around 10 percent is incinerated without producing any energy and less than 10 percent ends up in landfill.

About eight million tonnes of plastic waste are dumped into the world's oceans every year, the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic being tipped into the sea every minute of every day.

Manila 'trash bin' waterway choked with plastic
Manila (AFP) June 5, 2018 - The blanket of trash on a creek that flows between the makeshift homes of a Manila slum is so dense it appears one could walk across it like a paved street.

However, the thick and fetid mosaic of plastic bottles, takeaway containers and plastic bags is just a porous layer atop the filthy water of Estero de Magdalena.

It is one of the tributaries that run into Manila's most important and heavily polluted waterways, the Pasig River.

City officials blame the slum's residents for using the creek as an open-air dump and have installed massive strainers in the water that keeps the trash from flowing downstream.

"They (residents) are turning the creeks into a trash can," said Lorenzo Alconera, an official with the city engineering department.

"We want to block it at that point so we can easily collect the garbage. We do not want it to flow into the Pasig River," he added.

Trash that makes it into the river can then be swept out into the South China Sea or be sucked back by tides into the Laguna de Bay, the country's largest lake.

Plastic pollution is a major problem in the Philippines, which along with China, Vietnam and Indonesia is frequently listed among the world's worst offenders.

The city says it periodically uses heavy equipment to scoop the rubbish from the water and ends up with five to 10 truck loads of waste to haul away.

That is of little consolation to the impoverished families who live in homes cobbled together from pallets, scraps of wood and corrugated steel stained with rust.

Authorities say the trash-choked creek is a breeding ground for preventable illnesses like cholera and typhoid fever.

Beyond concerns over the infections that thrive in the waterway, residents also have to deal with a constant and unavoidable concern: its stench.

"We cannot properly sleep because of the garbage. Whether it rains or is sunny, there are the smells," 35-year-old vendor Marlyn Estrada Calderon told AFP.

Related Links
Our Polluted World and Cleaning It Up

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Cleaning up the 'sacred lake': locals tackle Titicaca pollution
Santiago De Huata, Bolivia (AFP) June 5, 2018
Under a blazing sun on the arid banks of Lake Titicaca, high in the Andes Mountains, around a dozen indigenous women work tirelessly to collect cans, bottles and plastic bags. The women - with their long black braids, traditional red bell-shaped skirts, thick woollen jackets and felt bowler hats - hope to set an example for other local residents and tourists who leave tons of garbage by the lake every year. But their efforts may amount to nothing more than window dressing - wastewater from th ... read more