Health-conscious parents look to escape soiled diaper blues

"For communal living to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, waste should be disposed of immediately, as a general rule. As much as possible, we should reduce the people who come in contact with it, and there is no benefit to taking it home."

Leave the common sense till the end - charge the parents a bit for correct disposal - or get the city to cover it, since Chiba Govt. thinks:

"By improving the quality of the nursery, the community is seen as a place where it is easy to raise children, and we can expect this to boost (the number of kids)."

Figure out the cost of disposal. Set a fee for the parents. Parents have an option... pay or take it home.

I had to take them home everyday for almost 3 years but thankfully we didn’t live too far away. However, 99% of parents in my area use a baby car. It is not hard to take them home if you do.

Just stop off at the nearest convenient store trash can. Problem solved.

@Sam Whitte

Problem solved.?????

Making your problem someone else’s problem does not solve anything. What a shameful and disrespectful attitude you have.

Another concern is the absolute wast of resources and garbage problem in general with these disposable and throw-away items.

Making your problem someone else’s problem does not solve anything. What a shameful and disrespectful attitude you have.

How is it someone else's problem? Outside garbage containers which a large majority of people use for items not only purchased from the store. Nobody is suggesting pulling up to the local 7 Eleven with 384 used diapers in the middle of the night and leaving them there. But just the same, if your kid's nursery school hands you a plastic bag with a curry-filled diaper, should you need to carry it around for the next 3 hours (on the train, inside stores, to the grocery store, etc)? The garbage at 7 Eleven ends up at the same place as that from my home or your apartment building.

People act as if they've never bought a drink from a store and then found themselves walking with an empty container, looking for a trash can. Or as if nobody - foreigner or native - has ever tossed something into one of the on the street trash nets in all of their life. I didn't notice "diaper day" on my neighborhood's trash schedule. So pardon me if rather than inconveniencing everyone around me on the train, street, shops/stores, I choose to occasionally dispose of a used diaper in the burnable can at Lawson/FamilyMart/7Eleven. #liveandletlive

Trash cans are for the public - for trash. Or would you prefer people litter?

These daycare schools don't generate trash aside from used diapers? Give me a break. They should be the model studied for all modern business then. Staff and customers (kids) and each day there is no paper waste, no plastic, glass, cans, food waste of any kind.

If there is some waste, as I imagine is true, they are already paying for garbage service at the daycare schools. So why should I have to pay EXTRA for something they are already paying for, and the reason they are paying for it is becuase they have staff and the reason they have staff is because they have customers. It's called cost of doing business.

There are no public trash cans on the streets of Japan. It took me years to get use to that.

I've managed to get used to it, but I still don't like it.

There are no public trash cans on the streets of Japan. It took me years to get use to that.

I've managed to get used to it, but I still don't like it.

Same here. Its very inconvenient.

Then along came the IRA which planted bombs in them so they were gone from most places except public parks.

I remember those days mate!

The easiest and hardless way should be: The nursery workers (teachers) give the soiled diapers to parents, and the parents take it to the big garbage boxes placed by the municipality inside the nursery facility. For the fee and all costs should be shared (no exception of public nurseries), they are from the municipal tax, from the nursery and from the parents. And the sanitation company to collect them everyday to avoid infectious diseases. Japan is a country with a reputation for cleanliness and hygiene, and just to show how to.

Trash cans are for the public - for trash

There are no public litter bins in Japan. Some businesses supply them for customers, now increasingly inside to stop idiots dumping their rubbish in them. I don't think we are too far away from individual households/blocks being charged per amount for how much rubbish they generate.

People need to own their rubbish and litter, you buy a snack, you bought the wrapper too, it's up to you to dispose of it. If people realised they own their rubbish they would be more careful about generating or purchasing so much. As for disposable nappies, ghastly things, never used them.

Where we live there is no rules on what type of bags to use. As long as the rubbish is separated correctly, they don't care.

¥10 each 25L

Cheap! We pay more than twice that....

Not sure it's the type of article that will boost the country's birth rate!

There are no public litter bins in Japan.

Well, there are not many. Some do exist, but they are few and far between, and I'm guessing they are provided by the municipality.

Raise the monthly fee by 500 yen. Or 1000 yen if 500 is not enough. Dispose of them at the day care.

Stop forcing parents to write their kid's name on all the diapers too.

Tell the "OMG its 500 yen!" parents to shut up and enjoy the extra time.

If the cloth diapers of old were used instead of disposables, the 'soil' would go into the sewer and the diapers laundered for reuse - waste problem solved.

@Sam Whitte

Faeces of any kind, human or animal, is not trash, it is human/animal bodily waste matter.

By habitually dumping crappy diapers in various convenience store rubbish bins, you are subjecting those stores’ staff to the stink that you believe you should not have to endure, every time they have to replace a full liner-bag, containing one or (possibly) more of your child(ren)’s bowel movements, with a fresh one.

One can only hope that you will soon be caught doing this, reported to the authorities, and have your photograph circulated to all convenience stores within a 50km radius of where you live so they can refuse to serve you, with a smile of course.

What is surprising is parents accepting this.

It is like inviting to a party people and asking them to bring back their sheit or make them pay for the load delivered lol.

Dystopian world as for consideration to babies (diapers should be disposed of like any human waste, locally).

Next is hanamizu tissues ? Hairs ?

By the way, more tourists means more waste since they don't have homes and don't come back. Would you keep your banana skin a whole day in your bag in hot and humid period...?

Undeniably another reason for the unfriendly environment for families when you have to hold waste of every member.

My situation allowed us to delay childcare until kindergarten, when diapers were no longer a consideration, but we did learn: Infants tend to pee and poop at regular intervals. Using cloth diapers for the former and disposable for the latter makes great sense in terms of labor and expense costs.

In Japan, one needs to bring their dog poop home, as well. The plastic poop bags have flushable paper inserts. You dump the inner paper insert with the poop into your toilet, and throw the clean empty plastic bag into your trash.

It's very annoying to have to carry the stinky sacks back. I keep a small, covered trash can in the trunkfor when we take the dogs to the park, to keep from stinking up the car.

I guess people can do the same for diapers. But, if they're walking or taking public transit, that isn't gonna work.

A nursery school is a place of business - plain and simple. Involved in said business are things known as expenses (costs of doing business). If you take your car to get the oil changed, after they charge you for the service, does a guy come out from the garage to thank you for your patronage and hand over a jug with 5-6 liters of used oil for you to dispose of, as well as a used oil filter? No.

Ever see vending machine trash cans or the built-in trash containers, and on the ground next to it are many many empty containers and cans? Why don't those "customers" take their trash with them?

If vending machines and convenient stores have trash cans and it's supposedly only for customers, why don't I see big groups of people standing insde and outside these areas eating and drinking? You don't. They are either leaving after purchase, smoking a cigarette outside or reading magazine in-store. More customers dispose of waste they didn't get from that store than the other way around.

Anyway, based on the poor attitude here, seems the solution you prefer is I simply throw the bag in someone's bicycle basket, or behind a tree and let nature take its course. Because how dare I use a trash can sitting outside.

It seems the problem here is that the facilities do not have daily garbage pickups and feel that this would be a financial burden. There are ways to make a weekly pickup feasible without letting the dumpster breed bacteria and stink up the area for a week.

I used to work in a laboratory setting that had to deal with things worse than human waste. We had a way for bagging things that didn't allow air to escape. Then we autoclaved it at the end of the day. For certain other materials that regulation didn't require we autoclave, but would be unsanitary to leave out, we kept chilled until it was time for disposal.

If sanitizing on site or keeping the waste chilled sounds too expensive, an airtight bag alone would be sufficient. Just seal the bag, leave it in the dumpster, place a warning sign on the dumpster. Problem solved.

Sam Whitte Today  06:15 pm JST

A nursery school is a place of business - plain and simple. Involved in said business are things known as expenses (costs of doing business). If you take your car to get the oil changed, after they charge you for the service, does a guy come out from the garage to thank you for your patronage and hand over a jug with 5-6 liters of used oil for you to dispose of, as well as a used oil filter? No.

That may be because the charge for the service actually includes the cost of disposal of the old oil and oil filter. However, what you may have noticed is that the service provider will not have emptied your ashtrays, vacuumed the carpets, removed whatever other accumulated rubbish you may have had in the car, washed and polished the car or performed a tune-up. Why not?

BECAUSE YOU HAVEN’T PAID FOR IT!!!!

No, I have never seen vending machines with “many, many” empty containers and cans on the ground next to them. In my experience, people move away from vending machines after they have completed their purchase, thereby taking what will eventually be trash, with them. Further, the owners of the vending machines work very hard to ensure that their trash cans are emptied on a regular basis for fear of complaints.

More customers dispose of waste they didn’t get from that store than the other way around.

So, you’re saying that CUSTOMERS of convenience stores they patronise, carry trash, that they have accumulated from elsewhere, to the store and dump it there. SERIOUSLY???

I don’t recall offering you any solutions to your problem, mainly because you haven’t bothered to ask, so don’t give credit to anyone but yourself for the two new ones you mentioned in your closing paragraph.

Clearly, you are determined to persist with your poor attitude toward to everyone around you.

I can only hope that you do not live in my neighborhood.

Thanks for proving my point, Gremlin.Gaijin. The company offering oil changes includes the cost of oil disposal within the price of oil change - and this is because oil disposal is not a normal item you can toss in the garbage. But the same company does not charge you a disposal fee if they detailed your car and did empty your ashtray, vacuum your carpets and any other rubbish inside your car.

Since diapers are part of doing business as a nursery school, and diapers are not special items which require a special pick-up service, the nursery is already paying for their disposal along with all other normal items which can be put in the trash. No reason for them to hand it over to the parent.

About the vending machnes, yes, again - that's the point. It's not the people buying from the vending machines that are drinking on the spot and putting their trash in the garbage bin at the machine. It's people who bought from various places, drinking while walking/biking/etc, and then toss it at the nearest trash bin they can find.

Ever taken a day trip in a car? Bring food/drinks with you? Bought some/more while driving? People often stop off to get something more and dispose of their accumulated trash.

What poor attitude? This is so beyond common sense. There is zero reason why a nursery should be giving a used diaper to parents who pay an arm & leg for their kid to be there. The nursery creates trash just as every household and business does, and they have a place to dispose of it, just like we all do. Garbage collections do not refuse to take diapers. So if the nursery is giving YOU the used diaper to put in YOUR trash, there is no reason they can't put YOUR childs used diaper in THEIR trash. It's all the same.

If you think otherwise, then you must believe all services you pay for would be justified to give you a bag full of your trash once you're ready to leave - restaurant, shopping mall, pet groomer, car wash, car service, etc.

@Sam Witte

Thanks for proving my point, Gremlin.Gaijin.

What exactly was the point you think I proved? I merely pointed out to you what you had neglected to acknowledge in your comment.

But the same company does not charge you a disposal fee if they detailed your car and did empty your ashtray, vacuum your carpets and any other rubbish inside your car.

And once again you fail to understand that the cost of disposing of the rubbish removed from your car is factored into the price of a detailing service. Further, I would suggest to you that, while there is an expectation that some amount of loose rubbish may need to be removed from a car in the course of a detailing service, if you have left an excessive amount of garbage, or a bag of stinking, soiled diapers in the car, you will either be asked to remove it before the service begins or, it will be left in your car.

Since diapers are part of doing business as a nursery school,and diapers are not special items which require a special pick-up service, the nursery is already paying for their disposal along with all other normal items which can be put in the trash. No reason for them to hand it over to the parent.

Unless I am very much mistaken, the nursery school is paying to have only a certain volume of garbage collected. In order to minimise its garbage collection cost, the nursery school has obviously decided not include the soiled diapers that would accumulate between scheduled garbage collection times. 

Surely you would have been informed from the outset that the nursery school does not provide a diaper disposal service and, presumably, you would have accepted that you would have to deal with the diaper disposal issue yourself.    

About the vending machnes(sic), yes, again - that's the point. It's not the people buying from the vending machines that are drinking on the spot and putting their trash in the garbage bin at the machine. It's people who bought from various places, drinking while walking/biking/etc, and then toss it at the nearest trash bin they can find.

I will simply dismiss this statement as an unsubstantiated, and grossly exaggerated, generalisation.

Ever taken a day trip in a car? Bring food/drinks with you? Bought some/more while driving? People often stop off to get something more and dispose of their accumulated trash.

Yes, yes and yes. And, I have no issue with that unless the 'people's' accumulated trash includes soiled, stinking, diapers. 

What poor attitude? 

Your view that disposing of stinking, soiled, diapers by dumping them into convenience store trash bins, contemplating putting them into someone's bicycle basket or behind a tree, is perfectly acceptable, and justifiable, behaviour!!!

The nursery creates trash just as every household and business does, and they have a place to dispose of it, just like we all do. Garbage collections do not refuse to take diapers.

Given the above statement, it seems to me you don't have anything to complain about. Take the soiled diapers home with you and put them out for collection with your household garbage - problem fixed.  

As I'm sure you will agree, every business has the right to determine which specific range of services it will, or will not, offer to provide to potential customers.

So, if your specific needs are not being met by the range of services the nursery school is able, or willing, to provide to you, and you are unable to persuade them to change their way of operating, TAKE YOUR BUSINESS TO ANOTHER ESTABLISHMENT. And again, problem fixed.  

If you think otherwise, then you must believe all services you pay for would be justified to give you a bag full of your trash once you're ready to leave - restaurant, shopping mall, pet groomer, car wash, car service, etc.

Of course I do, if that were a clearly stated condition of utilising a particular service, and I had knowingly agreed to it beforehand.