Burnable or non-burnable? The items that trip everyone up
Most of your daily trash splits into two buckets: burnable (moeru gomi, 燃えるごみ) and non-burnable (moenai gomi, 燃えないごみ). The names sound obvious until you are standing over two open bags with something that could go either way.
Burnable, even when it feels wrong
- Used tissues, paper towels, and dirty paper
- Most food scraps
- Wooden chopsticks and toothpicks
- Small garden leaves and clippings
- In many wards, soft plastic with no recycling mark, and even diapers
Non-burnable, even when it feels burnable
- Small metal items like scissors and cutlery
- Broken ceramics and glass, wrapped in paper first so nobody gets cut
- Light bulbs and small mirrors
- Umbrellas and small appliances under the size limit
The honest catch
Wards disagree. Some burn almost everything because their incinerators are modern. Others sort strictly. A leather belt is burnable in one city and non-burnable in the next. Treat the lists above as the common pattern, then check your ward for the edge cases.
When something is genuinely both, like a plastic toy with metal parts, most wards say go by what it is mostly made of. If you cannot tell, ask.
Holding a mystery item over two bags is exactly when Gomi Guide earns its keep. Snap it, and it gives you the answer for your ward.
Stop guessing over the bag Snap the item and Gomi Guide tells you which bag for your exact ward. Free on the App Store.