The Internet rejoices at this new, potent meme fodder: trash bags that declare its contents have no other recourse than to be burnt to a crisp.

You may have heard horror stories about the incredibly complex and rigorous trash sorting method, and if you’ve ever lived in Japan you yourself may have spent many an hour scrolling your city’s “garbage rules”. What counts as plastic, and what counts as non-burnable trash? Do you really have to clean your PET bottles before recycling them?

Though there’s a general guide to how sorting trash in Japan works, it actually differs by city, with each having their own rules and some areas even having their own specific trash bag designs. But as part of an increasingly environmentally-conscious Japan, one city in Fukuoka Prefecture is taking an extra measure to ensure you sort your garbage extra-carefully.

▼ A staff council member advertises the new “burnable trash” bag.

The city of Yanagawa has recently redesigned its bags for what’s usually called moyasu gomi (combustible or burnable trash). Instead of that term, though, the new bags explain that they’re for moyasu shika nai gomi, which when translated means “trash which we have no other option but to burn.”

▼ Here’s our artistic recreation of the brand new bag.

The intent from the city’s waste reduction council is to have citizens think more carefully about what garbage they burn — it costs more to sort garbage after it’s dropped off at the treatment facility, but more pressingly, a new incineration facility built between Yanagawa and Miyama will decide how to source its funding based on how much burnable garbage each city contributes.

The moyasu shika nai gomi bag was given its title after an investigation into how citizens could be encouraged to sort their trash better. The sentiment behind it is “wanting citizens to recycle carefully and precisely, to the point that only after they’ve exhausted all other sorting options will they choose to have it be incinerated.”

If you’re thinking “still, the name sounds a little harsh” or even “I feel kind of bad for the trash now”, you aren’t alone. Japanese netizens gathered in delighted droves to enjoy the brand new bags and their cold, judgemental message towards the trash residing within them.　Searching “moyasu shika nai gomi” reveals a treasure trove of jokes based around the damning title of this brand new trash bag.

▼ The scene in Nausicaa where Obaba decides “our only option is to burn the forest”…

▼ Enemy units in the tower-defense mobile game Arknights, landing on a fire pit, have only one option.

▼ A key scene of Puella Magi Madoka Magica with Mami criying “We have no choice but to burn!” instead of “die.”

The new bags have doubled in price, too. Now they’re sold at 40 yen (US$0.38) for a single large bag. Hopefully, this will force more citizens to consider how they sort their waste…and not just force people to spend more for the same amount of bags with no other changes.

Source: Asahi Shimbun, My Game News Flash
Images © SoraNews24
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