It looks like Nishinomiya City will be introducing designated garbage bags.
目次
It looks like the plan is to start in April 2022
Right now, it is still a rough draft,
but under the current plan, the designated bag system seems set to be introduced from April 2020.
So the finer details apparently have not been finalized yet.
There was a document where Miyatan explains various things in a “this is what it’ll be like” kind of way.
Here it is↓
→You can find this document here
To sum it up, it looks like this:
- Scheduled to start from April 2022
- No garbage disposal fee will be added to the bag price, since these are simply designated bags
- They can be purchased at supermarkets, convenience stores, and home improvement stores
- The bag price will be slightly higher due to printing on the bags and the use of biomass plastic, meaning bags made from plant-based materials
- Less recyclable waste such as paper will be mixed in with burnable garbage, which should help reduce waste
By the way, Kobe City, which uses the same simple designated bag system, was selling a pack of 50 45L bags for 394 yen including tax as of 2020/10/27.(That comes to about 8 yen per bag)
These are just Kobe garbage bags. They’re probably the cheapest ones on Amazon. Nishinomiya’s bags may end up being more expensive than this, or they may be cheaper. Once the designated garbage bag system starts, hopefully companies will work hard to keep prices low.
Also, the sorting categories will apparently change too.
Currently, the categories are things like Recyclables A and Recyclables B, but they will be changing a bit.
It is still a little way off in 2024, but non-burnable garbage, cans and PET bottles, and plastic will apparently require designated garbage bags.
Only 4 municipalities in Hyogo Prefecture have not yet introduced them
It seems Nishinomiya City had not introduced the system among the 60 core cities nationwide.
The status of designated bag implementation in Hyogo Prefecture↓
In Hyogo Prefecture, it seems Ashiya City, Kakogawa City, which is introducing the system from June 2021, Inagawa Town, and Nishinomiya City had not yet implemented it.(With this, Ashiya City and Inagawa Town may be feeling some pressure now.)
Finally
The city is also apparently accepting opinions from residents, known as public comments, about these designated garbage bags.
What people are probably most curious about is how much more expensive the garbage bags will become, and how transparent they will need to be. The details are expected to be discussed by the city council at the end of this fiscal year, in March next year. If we find out anything new, we’ll write another article.
