In answer to my question you’ll say that your in house garbage gets trashed in a huge community trash can and then on picked up by the trash collectors. But where does it go then? Very few of you that have noticed at all, know the next step. These big black garbage bags get loaded in a garbage truck and leave your vicinity. What happens next? Where is all the garbage off to now? Where does all the garbage go? The question remains.

Here is the answer. There are specific areas called ‘Landfills’ chosen for the disposal of the garbage. Landfills are vast patches of land, where for some reason the land level is very low. Trash is taken and dumped in these landfills until it is filled.

Landfills are also limited in number. Most of the trash that fills the landfills is – food waste, containers, paper, Styrofoam things, plastic and electronic waste. Some of these items  decompose easily and are “recyclable”. But others like plastic and electronic waste don’t decompose and instead fill up the landfill fast contributing to polluting our planet.

If this concerns you, then next time just be watchful of the stuff you throw away !! And ask your trash collectors if they have special bins where you can place “recyclable” trash, like food waste, papers separate from the “non-recyclable” ones, like your used toy batteries.

[ Inset: types of garbage bins in Japan ]