It looks like Nishinomiya City will be introducing designated garbage bags.
目次
It seems the plan is to start in April 2022
Right now, it’s still a rough draft,
but as of now, it looks like the designated bag system is scheduled to be introduced from April 2020.
So the details don’t seem to be fully decided yet.
There was a document where Miyatan explains various things in a “here’s the general idea” kind of way.
Here it is↓
→You can see the document here
To sum it up, it looks like this:
- Starts in April 2022 (planned)
- No waste disposal fee will be added to the cost of the bags (because they are simple designated bags)
- They will be available 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 (bags made with plant-based materials)
- Less “recyclable paper waste and similar items” will get mixed in with burnable garbage = helps 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.(About 8 yen per bag)
These are, of course, Kobe garbage bags. They’re probably the cheapest ones on Amazon. Nishinomiya’s bags might end up being more expensive, or they might be cheaper. Once the designated garbage bag system starts, hopefully companies will do their best to keep prices low.
Also, the sorting categories will apparently change.
Right now, the categories are things like Resource A and Resource B, but they’ll change a bit.
It’s still a little ways off in 2024, but non-burnable garbage, cans/PET bottles, and plastics will apparently require designated garbage bags.
Only four municipalities in Hyogo Prefecture have yet to implement the system
It seems Nishinomiya City had been one of the core cities nationwide that had not introduced it among the 60 core cities in Japan.
Status of designated bag implementation in Hyogo Prefecture↓
In Hyogo Prefecture, it seems Ashiya City, Kakogawa City (to introduce the system from June 2021), Inagawa Town, and Nishinomiya City had not implemented it yet.(With this, Ashiya City and Inagawa Town might be feeling some pressure too.)
Finally
It seems the city is also accepting opinions from residents (called public comments) about these designated garbage bags.
The things people are probably wondering about are how much more expensive the garbage bags will be, and how transparent they’ll be. The details are apparently going to be discussed by the city council at the end of this fiscal year (next March). If we find out anything new, we’ll write another article.
