Japan Trash Sorting Rules and Municipality Variation

Japan trash sorting runs on a shared set of categories with rules set by each municipality.¹² Your ward or city decides what goes where, which day each stream is collected, and which bag to use, so the local guide outranks any general article.

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at your ward or city office waste and recycling pages.

Overview

This guide covers the sorting framework most new residents meet in their first week: burnable and non-burnable garbage, plastics, cans, bottles, PET bottles, paper, and oversized trash.³² It applies to household garbage in any municipality and to any residency status, while business waste follows separate paid procedures.¹

The framework is roughly shared nationwide, but category boundaries, pickup days, and bag rules are set per municipality.¹²⁴ Tokyo wards each set their own sub-rules, and cities such as Yokohama and Osaka differ materially, so confirm your local table before putting anything out.³⁵²⁶

The shared sorting framework

Most municipalities sort household waste into burnable garbage, non-burnable garbage, recyclable resources such as plastics, cans, bottles, and paper, and a separate oversized stream.³² The names and boundaries below follow Shibuya and Yokohama wording; your city uses the same idea with its own lines.³²

Burnable, non-burnable, and plastics

Burnable garbage covers kitchen waste, scrap and soiled paper, diapers, sanitary products, rubber and leather items, clothing, and non-washable plastics in Shibuya's scheme.³ Yokohama's burnable stream likewise covers kitchen waste, soiled paper, and diapers, plus home appliances under 50 cm, all in transparent or semitransparent bags.²

Non-burnable garbage covers metal items under 30 cm per side, glass, ceramics, small appliances, dry-cell batteries, and aluminum foil in Shibuya's scheme.³ Yokohama's non-burnable stream covers ceramics, glass, fluorescent lamps, and light bulbs, placed boxed or wrapped with the contents labeled.²

Term	Reading and meaning
燃えるごみ	燃えるごみ (moeru gomi, "burnable garbage")3
燃えないごみ / 不燃ごみ	燃えないごみ (moenai gomi, "non-burnable garbage")3
プラスチック資源	プラスチック資源 (purachikku shigen, "plastic resources"; Yokohama term for recyclable plastics)2
危険	危険 (kiken, "dangerous"; marked on wrapped sharp items)3

Plastics split by cleanliness in both cities. Shibuya collects rinsed plastics as recyclable resources in transparent bags and routes non-washable plastics to burnable waste.³ Yokohama collects all-plastic items under 50 cm, including marked packaging plus buckets, hangers, and basins, rinsed and wiped first, while items mixing other materials, thick hard items such as cutting boards, plastic string or sheets 50 cm or more, unremoved-battery appliances, and contaminated items go to burnable trash.²

Wrap sharps and mark them before bagging

Wrap glass, needles, and knives in paper and mark them 危険 (kiken, "dangerous") so collection staff are not injured.³ Yokohama asks for the same treatment: box or newspaper-wrap bulbs and lamps and label the contents.²

Cans, bottles, PET bottles, and paper

Bottles, cans, and PET bottles need rinsing in both cities. Shibuya asks residents to bundle newspapers, magazines, and cardboard by type with no bag, remove bottle caps and rinse, rinse cans, and remove PET caps and labels, rinse, and crush flat.³ Yokohama asks residents to rinse food and drink cans, glass bottles, and PET bottles bearing the PET mark, including drink, alcohol, vinegar, mirin, soy sauce, and non-oil dressing bottles, and set them out in transparent or semitransparent bags.²

Dirty items drop out of the recycling stream. In Shibuya, PET bottles that held oil, cosmetics, or paint are not recyclables at all, extremely soiled or damaged bottles and cans go to non-burnable trash, and soiled or damaged PET bottles go to burnable trash.³ In Yokohama, cosmetic or medicine bottles (other than oral medicines) go to non-burnable garbage, and paint cans must be empty before going out as small metal items.²

Paper and cloth follow bundle and bag rules. Yokohama asks residents to separate newspapers, magazines, cardboard, and milk cartons by type, size them, and tie with string, and to bag other paper in a paper bag (or transparent bag) tied shut.² Used clothing and cloth go out washed in transparent bags, while soiled or ripped pieces go to burnable garbage, and residents should skip rainy days for cloth collection.²

Spray cans need special handling. Shibuya asks residents to use spray cans and gas cylinders completely first, and routes spray paint cans to non-burnable trash rather than recyclables.³ Yokohama asks residents to use contents fully in a safe place away from fire, skip piercing holes, bag cans transparently, and dispose of plastic caps as plastic resources.²

Oversized trash (sodai gomi)

The 粗大ごみ (sodai gomi, "oversized (large-sized) garbage") stream covers items too large for ordinary bags.³⁷ In Shibuya this means furniture larger than 30 cm square, household appliances outside the home-appliance-recycling route, bicycles, and ski boards.³ In Yokohama this means metal items with the longest side 30 cm or more, and all other items with the longest side 50 cm or more.⁷

Oversized pickup is never a curbside free-for-all. Shibuya collects it for a fee by advance reservation at the Large-Sized Waste Reception Center, with a paid sticker bearing the applicant's name attached and the item placed roadside rather than at the collection site.³ Yokohama likewise requires advance application by phone or online, with collection around 2 weeks after application (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with Yokohama City), a handling fee paid through a collection sticker from convenience stores or financial institutions, and set-out by 8 a.m. on the assigned day.⁷

Air conditioners, televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, clothes dryers, and personal computers do not go through municipal oversized collection in Yokohama; they follow separate retailer or manufacturer recycling routes.²⁷

Why the specifics vary by municipality

Garbage and recyclable categories must be separated under each city's own disposal procedures, and the procedures name the city as the authority.⁴ That is why the same plastic tray or bottle can sort differently after a move, and why ward examples below are illustrations rather than rules to copy.³²

Tokyo 23 wards: each ward sets sub-rules

Shibuya collects burnable trash twice a week, non-burnable trash once a month, and recyclable resources once a week (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with Shibuya City).³ Set-out is due by 8 a.m. on the designated day, 7:30 a.m. in downtown areas, and days vary by neighborhood, confirmed at the local collection-site sign, the waste collection office, a landlord, or neighbors (as of 2026-09).³

Shinjuku distributes multilingual sorting guides and operates its own sorting app, with household collection generally free except large-quantity and large-sized waste, while business waste is charged and handled separately.¹ Its English collection-day table schedules combustible garbage twice per week, recyclables once per week, and metal, ceramic, and glass twice per month, varying by town block (as of 2026-09).⁵

The Shibuya and Shinjuku contrast is the point. Shibuya's non-burnable rhythm of once a month differs from Shinjuku's metal, ceramic, and glass rhythm of twice a month (as of 2026-09).³⁵ Both sit inside Tokyo, yet neither table applies outside its own ward.

Yokohama, Osaka, and rural patterns

Yokohama runs a detailed multi-stream system covering burnable, non-burnable, spray cans, batteries, plastic resources, cans, glass bottles and PET bottles, small metal items, used paper, used cloth, and oversized garbage.² That granularity is why the city is often described as strict, but the description is a pattern summary, not a municipal rule; the city page itself simply lists the streams.²

Osaka publishes the ABC of Waste Disposal Rules in English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Nepali, plus a garbage-sorting smartphone app with category search and a collection-day calendar.⁶ Osaka requires waste in transparent or semitransparent bags with visible contents, rejects opaque bags, cardboard boxes, and paper bags, and leaves mis-sorted waste uncollected with a warning sticker.⁸

Rural municipalities vary too, but this guide states no specific rural rule. The only rural claim here is the standing one: wherever you live, the local table is the authority, and secondary-source labels such as lenient or relaxed should never override it.

Read ward comparisons as patterns, not rules

Secondary guides often call Yokohama strict and Osaka flexible, but only the municipal page for your address sets your categories. Use comparisons to expect variation, then verify locally.²⁶

Pickup schedules and collection points

Collection days are set by neighborhood block in Shibuya, by town in Shinjuku, and by area of residence in Yokohama.³⁵⁴ The table below gives sourced examples so new residents can see the shape; it does not substitute for any local calendar.

Municipality	Burnable	Non-burnable	Recyclables	As of	Source
Shibuya City	2x per week	1x per month	1x per week	2026-093	Ward waste page
Shinjuku City	2x per week (combustible)	2x per month (metal, ceramic, glass)	1x per week	2026-095	English collection-day table
Yokohama City	Per-area schedule, see local sticker or app	Per-area schedule	Per-area schedule	2026-094	City disposal-rules page

Figures in the table carry their currency in the As of column. The typical pattern across these examples is burnable trash twice a week, recyclables about once a week, and non-burnable from twice a month to once a month (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with your ward or city office).³⁵²

Typical weekly patterns

Burnable collection is the most frequent stream in these examples. Shibuya sets it twice a week and Shinjuku sets combustible garbage twice a week, while Yokohama leaves the exact days to the area schedule (as of 2026-09).³⁵⁴ Recyclables run about weekly in both Tokyo examples, with Yokohama again deferring to the area schedule (as of 2026-09).³⁵⁴

Non-burnable collection is the slowest stream. Shibuya sets it once a month and Shinjuku sets metal, ceramic, and glass twice a month, so a broken plate or small appliance can wait weeks for its day (as of 2026-09).³⁵

Reading your local calendar and station rules

Morning deadlines are strict in these examples. Shibuya requires garbage at the designated collection site by 8 a.m. on the designated day, 7:30 a.m. downtown.³ Yokohama requires sorted items at the designated site by 8 a.m., with nothing left out the night before or after collection.⁴

Bags must show their contents. Shibuya, Yokohama, and Osaka all require transparent or semitransparent bags so collectors can see inside.³²⁸ Yokohama confirms collection days by area through the sticker at the collection site or by asking a neighbor.⁴

In Osaka and Yokohama, missorted or wrong-day waste stays where it is. Osaka and Yokohama both leave improperly sorted waste uncollected with a warning sticker, and Yokohama adds a 2,000 yen fine for repeat offenders who ignore warnings.⁴⁸

The diagram above traces the weekly routine this section describes. Each step cites its source in the surrounding prose rather than inside the block.

Your first-week strategy

New-resident friction comes from guessing instead of looking up. Both Tokyo and Yokohama pages tell residents to confirm the site and schedule with the waste office, a landlord, or a neighbor rather than copying another ward's rules.³⁴ Two lookups in the first week prevent most rejected bags.

The multilingual sorting guide and notice board

Shinjuku City Office distributes sorting guides in multiple languages, Yokohama ward offices stock pamphlets in 6 languages and leaflets in 10 languages, and Osaka publishes its ABC rules in 5 languages.¹⁴⁶ Pick up the guide at the ward or city office around move-in registration and keep it with the collection calendar.

Then check the building layer. Shibuya and Yokohama both name landlord or neighbor confirmation for the site and schedule, which covers building-specific rules such as indoor garbage rooms or net use.³⁴ The building notice board often carries the collection-day chart for that address block.

Whether the pamphlet is physically handed over at the registration counter varies by office; sources confirm the guides are distributed and stocked at ward offices rather than the exact handover moment. Ask at the counter if none is offered.

The municipality garbage app and calendar lookup

Shinjuku operates the San-A-ru sorting app with a collection-day calendar covering the coming week plus a forward calendar, an item dictionary, category instructions, FAQ, and ward notices.⁹ Yokohama operates the Mictionary lookup on PC and mobile in English, Chinese, and Korean, plus a garbage-sorting app in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.² Osaka offers a garbage-sorting smartphone app with category search and a collection-day calendar.⁶

Download the app for your municipality where one exists. Confirmed English-language options cover Shinjuku, Yokohama, and Osaka, but an English app is not verified as universal, so smaller municipalities may offer only a PDF calendar or web table.⁹²⁶

Save the calendar before unpacking boxes

Photograph the building notice-board chart and save the ward calendar PDF or app view on your phone. Moving boxes create a surge of cardboard and plastic in week one, and the paper and plastic days rarely fall on the same day.³²

Good to know

The same item can sort differently after a move

Non-washable plastics are burnable in Shibuya while Yokohama routes all-plastic items under 50 cm to plastic resources, spray paint cans are non-burnable in Shibuya, and cosmetic bottles are non-burnable in Yokohama.³² Treat every move as a fresh lookup and relearn the local table rather than carrying old habits across wards.

Morning set-out and the wrong-day bag left behind

Set out by 8 a.m. on the collection day and never the night before, since Yokohama states the overnight ban explicitly and Shibuya states the morning deadline.³⁴ Unsorted or wrong-day waste is left uncollected with a warning sticker in both Osaka and Yokohama, and Yokohama adds a 2,000 yen fine for repeat offenders.⁴⁸

Rinse recyclables; dirty plastics often go burnable

Rinse bottles, cans, and PET bottles before disposal, remove PET caps and labels, and crush PET bottles flat, as both Shibuya and Yokohama instruct.³² Soiled or damaged PET bottles go to burnable trash in Shibuya, and contaminated plastic items that would hinder recycling go to burnable trash in Yokohama.³²

See also

• Designated Bags (Shitei Gomi-Bukuro) System
• Foreign-Resident Garbage Mistakes in Japan
• Neighbor Relations in Japan: Hikkoshi-Aisatsu Explained
• Move-Out Procedures: Closing Utility Accounts
• Garbage-Station Etiquette and the Wrong-Day Name-Tag
• Oversized Trash (Sodai Gomi) and the Prepayment Sticker

References

Footnotes

1. Shinjuku City (Foreign Language Top Page). "How to Dispose of Recyclable Resources and Garbage". https://www.foreign.city.shinjuku.lg.jp/en/kurashi/shigenyagomi/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. City of Yokohama. "Sorting and disposal procedures for garbage and recyclables" (last updated 2026-06-10). https://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/lang/residents/en/garbage/sortinganddisposal.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹

3. Shibuya City. "Garbage and Recycling | LIVING IN SHIBUYA". https://www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp/contents/living-in-shibuya/en/daily/garbage.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶

4. City of Yokohama. "Rules for disposing of garbage" (last updated 2026-05-21). https://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/lang/residents/en/garbage/default.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

5. Shinjuku City. "2026 How to Separate and Dispose of Shinjuku City Recyclable Resources and Garbage" (English PDF with town-by-town collection-day table). https://www.city.shinjuku.lg.jp/content/000259255.pdf ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

6. City of Osaka, Environment Bureau. "ごみのマナーABC（ごみの出し方）外国語版パンフレット" (foreign-language pamphlet portal, English/Chinese/Korean/Vietnamese/Nepali, page dated 2025-04-01; links English ABC of Waste Disposal Rules PDFs created April 2025 and garbage-sorting app). https://www.city.osaka.lg.jp/kankyo/page/0000524768.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

7. City of Yokohama. "Oversized garbage (粗大ごみ)" (last updated 2025-03-01). https://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/lang/residents/en/garbage/oversizedgarbage.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

8. City of Osaka, Environment Bureau. "ABC of Waste Disposal Rules 1 (English, PDF, created April 2025)" via the portal in ⁶. https://www.city.osaka.lg.jp/kankyo/cmsfiles/contents/0000524/524768/P1_ABC2025_EN2.pdf ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

9. Shinjuku City. "資源・ごみ分別アプリ「さんあ～る」配信中！" (San-A-ru sorting app page, updated 2026-05-12). https://www.city.shinjuku.lg.jp/kankyo/seiso01_000001_00016.html ↩ ↩²